Excited students in white coats mill around the new medical college in Suwanee - chatting happily and eager to begin their studies at the Georgia Campus-Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (GA-PCOM) as the inaugural class. The school hopes that these 2009 graduates will fulfill the college's mission of providing doctors to the South's rural and other medically underserved communities.

"GA-PCOM has been presented a wonderful opportunity to be a key player in developing physicians to serve Georgia and the surrounding region," says campus executive officer Dr. John Fleischmann.

The college landed in Gwinnett as a result of an invitation from the Osteopathic Institute of the South, a nonprofit corporation serving as an educational assistance network for medical students. Dr. Michael Schure, president and chief executive officer of PCOM, says that the school's mission is "to recruit, educate and retain students from the South for the practice of medicine in the south, particularly in its underserved areas." While Georgia has the ninth-largest population in the country, the state's patient-to-physician ratio ranks 38 out of the 50 states.

Osteopathic medicine is a preventive approach to medicine, incorporating the belief that the body is able to heal and repair itself. Typical medical techniques are studied, though osteopathic doctors are a blend of physician, physical therapist and chiropractor. Students are encouraged to become primary care physicians. PCOM, established in 1899, is one of the oldest and most prestigious osteopathy schools in the country.

GA-PCOM is tuition-funded and was built using private donations. The only federal grant the school received came with the help of Congressman John Linder (R-Ga.), who secured a grant of $692,000 for the school. Linder, who himself is a dentist, spoke of the need to improve Georgia's "medical infrastructure" at the school's ribbon-cutting ceremony. Even in the metro area, there are those who do not have access to medical care - which Linder deems "unacceptable."

"This is, in large part, due to a shortage of medical professionals," Linder says. He hopes that GA-PCOM's training of new physicians for the underserved areas will be the first step to improving the medical infrastructure.

The students of PCOM are also excited about the opportunities the Georgia campus has to offer. Brian Anderson, a student in the doctor of osteopathic medicine degree program, chose GA-PCOM for the prestige and for the newness of the campus. "They had a lot on the line coming here," Anderson says. "They've taken a risk to go all out and make it right."

A native of Nashville, Tenn., Anderson also chose GA-PCOM for its proximity to home. "One of the school's main missions is to train physicians who are going to stay in the South," he says. "One of the clinical rotations will be in Tennessee, close to home," he says.

Student Chinyelu Onyeka also chose GA-PCOM for its location. "I want to go where I am needed," she says. Onyeka, who is considering internal medicine, also likes the curriculum offered by the school. "From day one, we have contact with people, and we are treated like and act like doctors."

Fellow student Vanessa Durand seeks to improve the lives of those who do not have access to medical care - which she views as a problem of Gwinnett's rapidly rising population. " Georgia has been slow in handling the influx of population," she says. Better education and the training of physicians are possible solutions Durand sees to the problem. "People need better access to medical care," she says.

The training of a new generation of osteopathic physicians at GA-PCOM is a first step in realizing the goal of bringing quality medical care to all in the South and in Georgia.