Lincoln Memorial University on Monday officially flipped the switch on a new health sciences campus in Orange Park, planting a DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine site and a College of Veterinary Medicine on the First Coast. University and local officials cut a ribbon at the renovated business-park complex, and the school said both programs are expected to welcome their first students in 2026. LMU is pitching the campus as a way to train future doctors and veterinarians closer to communities that say they desperately need them.
Campus footprint and programs
According to a press release via PR Newswire, the Orange Park campus covers roughly 130,000 square feet across two adjacent buildings on about 12 acres and is built for interprofessional training, with medical and veterinary students expected to share space and resources. The release notes that the site will house the LMU-DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine (LMU-DCOM) and the LMU-College of Veterinary Medicine at Orange Park as its inaugural programs, and that a formal grand opening and ribbon-cutting took place Monday morning. PR Newswire quoted LMU President Dr. Jason McConnell calling the expansion "a significant step forward" for health-care education in Florida.
Where it sits and how LMU got the site
The campus sits at 335 Crossing Boulevard in Orange Park, tucked inside an office-park cluster south of Wells Road, as reported by the Jax Daily Record. The paper reports that LMU bought the two buildings and adjacent land in 2022 for roughly $12 million and converted about 135,000 square feet of commercial space into classrooms, labs and support facilities, effectively trading cubicles for cadaver tables and simulation bays. LMU has spent recent months retrofitting simulation suites and clinic space ahead of classes.
Veterinary training and community partnerships
LMU says the new veterinary college will run a three-year Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program that leans on early clinical exposure and a distributive clinical model, meaning students will rotate through partner sites instead of a single teaching hospital, according to LMU. The university highlighted partnerships with the Jacksonville Humane Society and Clay County Animal Services to give students shelter-medicine and community rotations. Officials said those hands-on placements are central to the curriculum and to expanding animal-care capacity across Northeast Florida.
Why it matters for local health care
The launch lands at a time when Florida is still wrestling with lopsided access to care and a long list of Health Professional Shortage Areas. The state’s Physician Workforce Annual Report points to primary-care shortages in nearly every county. According to the Florida Department of Health, those gaps are especially severe outside the largest metro centers, a hole that medical and veterinary training programs argue they can help plug. Local coverage also notes that another four-year osteopathic program, a LECOM campus at Jacksonville University, is slated to begin classes in 2026, signaling growing local investment in medical education, per the Jax Daily Record.
When students arrive
LMU says the veterinary college will welcome its inaugural cohort beginning in June 2026, with the DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine site expected to open that fall. "This expansion reflects who we are as a university," LMU President Dr. Jason McConnell said in a statement published by PR Newswire. University officials say the campus will create new clinical rotations with local physicians and veterinary partners and help pipeline clinicians into Clay, Duval and neighboring counties. Administrators also pointed to economic ripple effects from jobs tied to teaching, simulation and animal-care operations as the site ramps up.
