LYNCHBURG, Va.
Liberty University broke ground on a medical school building Friday morning, the latest step in an aggressive expansion of the Lynchburg school.
The facility, dubbed the Center for Health and Medical Sciences, will cover about 138,000 square feet and include a medical clinic, resource center and labs.
The Virginia tobacco commission is giving Liberty more than $20-million to help pay for the project. It's one of the largest investments the tobacco commission has ever made in a single project.
"I am confident there will not be a better designed, equipped, or more technologically advanced medical college in the United States than what we're developing right here on this campus," said Ronnie Martin, dean of Liberty's new medical school and a past president of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians.
The new medical school is being built on top of Liberty Mountain, east of Route 29 and the Lynchburg Regional Airport.
Construction is expected to be complete in the spring of 2014. The first students in the osteopathic medicine program are expected on campus in the fall of 2014.
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Liberty University breaks ground on medical school
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