When the $35 million expansion of the Fredric W. Smith Science Building that opened in 1991 at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) in Lewisburg is completed in 2027, it will double the size of the medical school’s academic building to nearly 54,000 square feet. Funded by a $29 million appropriation from the West Virginia Legislature and a $6 million federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, the project is a monumental investment to transform the rural medical school, which is also an economic engine for Greenbrier County.
WVSOM traces its roots to the Greenbrier College of Osteopathic Medicine, a private institution that enrolled its first class of 36 students in 1974. The school became the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in 1974. In 1976, its board of governors donated the property to the state, making it a state-funded public institution whose stellar reputation attracts medical students throughout West Virginia and across the country. In 1978, WVSOM graduated its first class of 33 students. More than 50 years later, WVSOM is the largest medical school in the state, ahead of West Virginia University and Marshall University, attracting more than 200 students annually. It is also the only medical school to offer a degree in osteopathic medicine in West Virginia.
The construction upgrades include seven faculty labs, two open research labs, two anatomy labs, one fresh tissue lab and five lab support rooms. Additionally, a vivarium and gross anatomy suite with forensic pathology and autopsy capabilities will be housed on the first and second floors of the building. But that’s not where the story ends. In fact, you might say it’s where a new transformational era begins.
WVSOM President James W. Nemitz, who also holds a Ph.D. and served as a professor of anatomy at the school for more than 30 years, said the current space has been tremendously valuable for medical education and research since it opened in 1991.
“Right now, we’re operating at full capacity,” said Nemitz, who assumed his role as school president in 2018. “What an asset it will be for the school and the state once the construction is completed next year.”
Not only is the current construction project of the science building a shining example of unprecedented growth, but it also positions the medical school as a leading center of advanced research and education that will help attract top faculty and researchers as it competes with other osteopathic schools. Nemitz said he hopes to encourage more aspiring physicians from West Virginia to attend WVSOM. Currently, nearly 75% of students come from outside of the state.
“One of the best ways for us to keep West Virginia’s medical students in the state is to keep providing opportunities for them to secure residency programs here,” Nemitz said. “On average, more than 30% will stay.”
The school has undertaken efforts to attract more in-state students, including offering a Pre-Osteopathic Medicine Program (POMP) as a pipeline program, undergraduate GPA-related incentives and a nine-month master’s program designed to support students by bringing them up to speed in various subjects. Recent enrollment numbers suggest a shift is well underway.
“The incoming class for 2026 will be the largest in-state student class in the history of WVSOM,” Nemitz noted.
What makes osteopathic medicine unique? For those outside the medical community, the distinction may not be obvious. The answer may lie somewhere between modern medicine and early 20th-century manual techniques to help the body heal. First and foremost, a doctor of osteopathic medicine is a physician who practices science-based medicine along with a philosophy and set of principles in caring for the patient as a whole.
“We’re the leading producer of physicians in West Virginia,” Nemitz said. “Our doctors are treating patients in 51 of the 55 counties within the state.”
Doctors who graduate from American osteopathic medical colleges earn their degree as a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.). They attend four years of medical school and go on to residency training, just like their M.D. counterparts, and are licensed to practice the full scope of conventional methods of medical diagnosis and surgery in all 50 states and across all specialties of medicine and surgery.
An emphasis on rural medicine is an essential part of the training for a D.O. This is especially significant in West Virginia due to a declining population, geographic isolation and a lack of medical specialists to serve patients in rural areas.
“Most medical students aren’t trained in rural America,” Nemitz said. “At WVSOM, many of their role models are family medicine doctors in rural communities.”
The numbers would seem to reflect this reality. The 2025 Health Science Report by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission on the most recent medical school graduate cohort shows that WVSOM has 86 graduates practicing in rural areas of West Virginia, as compared to 32 for the other two state medical schools combined.
“As a rural doctor, you’re going to see everything,” Nemitz said. “Where students train has a huge influence on the level of care they are able to deliver there.”
As WVSOM invests in upgrades to classroom facilities, a curriculum design that now begins with social determinants of health and state-of-the-art equipment that includes AI simulations, Nemitz remains optimistic about the school’s future and its ability to continue producing high-quality physicians in the state. His future plans include creating a consortium for a biotech hub that would include the other two medical schools in West Virginia.
“I’m working in the best place I’ve ever worked, living in the best place I’ve ever lived,” he said. “I’m doing what I’m meant to do where I’m supposed to be doing it.”
Shelly Ridgeway is a freelance writer living in Huntington.