The Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) is a private medical school in Erie, Pennsylvania, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Bradenton, Florida, DeFuniak Springs, Florida and Elmira, New York. Founded in 1992, LECOM confers medical (D.O.), dental (DMD), pharmacy (PharmD), as well as master's degrees in the health sciences. LECOM operates one of the few accelerated three-year pharmacy programs in the country, and is one of 2 pharmacy schools in the country with a distance education program. With over 2,200 enrolled medical students, the College of Osteopathic Medicine at LECOM is the largest medical school in the United States. LECOM is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the American Osteopathic Association's Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation, the Commission on Dental Accreditation, and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. History In the late 1980s, the growing need for new physicians especially in the local area was becoming increasingly evident and as a result, the leaders of Millcreek Community Hospital in Millcreek Township, Pennsylvania founded the health system's now namesake, the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, in December 1992. The institution's first courses began in 1993, and the inaugural class of students graduated on May 24 1997. In 2002, the LECOM School of Pharmacy opened. In 2004, LECOM opened a branch campus in Bradenton, Florida. In 2007, Lake Erie COM was the first US medical school to re-introduce a three-year medical school program, after the other 3 year programs in the nation had closed. In 2008, LECOM received approval to open an additional branch campus in Greensburg, Pennsylvania at the site of Seton Hill University, wchich opened in 2009. The branch campus included two additional buildings, with an overall projected cost of $4 million. In 2012, the Bradenton campus opened a new dental school. In 2020, LECOM opened a new medical school campus in Elmira, New York. In 2022, they announced the opening of their fifth campus to be located at Jacksonville University in Florida. It is expected to start operations in 2026. The medical school at LECOM is the largest in the United States. LECOM announced it will open a new school of podiatric medicine in the fall of 2023 after they received approval from the Council on Podiatric Medical Education. It will become the eleventh podiatric medical school in the United States. As of 2022, the college claims a total enrollment of over 4100 students and 16,000 alumni.