Lakewood Ranch Announced as Site for LECOM Florida Branch Campus.

Business Editors/Health & Medical, Education & Real Estate Writers

SARASOTA/MANATEE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 12, 2003

Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, Inc. (SMR) and the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) from Erie, Pennsylvania have announced the location of a LECOM branch campus in Lakewood Ranch. Anticipated opening for students is September 2004. The campus will be the newest osteopathic college in Florida and the sixth medical school in the state.

LECOM's nationwide research revealed a relative state shortage and increasing demand for physicians as Florida's population grows. Coupled with the strength of the osteopathic profession in Florida, the need for a new osteopathic school became apparent.

The college chose a 15-acre site in Lakewood Ranch, a 7,000-acre master-planned community on the county line of Manatee and Sarasota, for the Florida branch campus. According to LECOM President John M. Ferretti, D.O., "Lakewood Ranch meets all of our needs. We found affordable land in a growing community, with a location close to medical facilities for training students and easy accessibility to airports and highways."

LECOM projects that the campus will have a significant impact on the area's economy. "Based on our experience in Erie," Dr. Ferretti explains, "the branch campus should generate more than $30 million in annual economic benefit to nearby communities." This includes salaries and spending by faculty, staff and administrators, as well as spending generated by LECOM medical students. The impact will grow as the college expands.

The new Lakewood Ranch facility will have a total enrollment of 600 medical students. At nearly 100,000 square feet, the facility will include lecture classrooms, group study rooms, and state-of-the-art learning resource center. Laboratories and patient encounter rooms will support the curriculum, along with administration, faculty, and support staff offices.

LECOM has clinical training sites in Florida for students at Wellington Regional Medical Center (West Palm Beach) and Northside Hospital & Heart Institute (St. Petersburg). The college recently signed affiliation agreements with Manatee Memorial Hospital & Health System and Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, which will serve as future clinical sites. LECOM plans to work with Florida physicians and medical facilities to develop more clinical education sites.

In May, the Commission for Independent Education of the Florida Department of Education unanimously approved LECOM's provisional license for the branch campus. LECOM is currently working with the American Osteopathic Association for branch campus approval.