20 Medical Schools Making the Biggest Community Health Impact

Inspira Advantage Research Team

10/15/2026

Med schools do more than just train doctors who simply treat patients. Many of them also place great emphasis on providing care to communities that need it the most.

Across the country, there are med schools that have free clinics, focus on serving underserved areas and populations, and create strong pipelines to not only help solve our physician shortage crisis but to give communities facing the largest health disparities the help they need. And there are some schools that do this particularly well and have a significant, visible impact on the communities they work with.

To find the top 20 medical schools making the biggest community health impact, we looked closely at the programs these schools have built, the communities they serve, and the reach and longevity of those efforts.

The schools below stood out for turning their community-focused missions into tangible action.

Rank	Medical school	Community Health Impact Evidence
1	Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine	Operates dedicated Rural Medical, Tribal Medicine, and Urban Underserved Medical Tracks. They received a $16 million grant to support training aimed at rural, tribal, and urban underserved Oklahoma communities.
2	Mercer University School of Medicine	Mercer’s Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center has worked in all 120 rural Georgia counties, alongside programs tackling maternal health, opioid misuse, mental health, and chronic disease (one of the strongest in the country). More than 80% of graduates who stay in Georgia practice in rural or medically underserved areas.
3	Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine	MSUCOM runs weekly street medicine programs in Lansing, Detroit, and Macomb County for people experiencing homelessness. Its Community Integrated Medicine program also places first- and second-year students in medically underserved communities.
4	William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine	Their Charles W. Pickering Institute of Primary Care was developed with a $20 million state infrastructure grant to expand the primary care workforce in rural and underserved Mississippi. Its population-health work also includes tobacco and vaping prevention in Mississippi elementary schools and community-based health-disparities projects.
5	Campbell University Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine	Campbell's Community Care Clinic provides free healthcare to uninsured patients living at or below the federal poverty line. They have a state grant that helps care for roughly 1,500 patients annually, and Campbell also uses mobile clinics to reach rural North Carolina communities. The clinic earned the National Association of Free & Charitable Clinics' highest quality rating.
6	West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine	WVSOM Health is a nonprofit Rural Health Clinic with more than 40 providers serving the Greenbrier Valley. Every WVSOM medical student also completes at least three rural or underserved rotations in West Virginia.
7	Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine	PNWU-COM students work at the Yakima Union Gospel Mission Medical Clinic, which provides free primary and urgent care to people experiencing hardship and difficulty accessing healthcare.
8	A.T. Still University–Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine	KCOM students provide screenings, physical exams, consultations, health education, and health-promotion services to underserved communities through rural health fairs. Community service and care for underserved populations are incorporated into the school's broader training model.
9	Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific	Faculty and students support Care Harbor clinics serving uninsured and underserved Los Angeles residents. These clinics have delivered about 164,000 services to 30,000 patients, representing roughly $24 million in donated care.
10	Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine	Operates a Student-Run Free Clinic for low-income Vallejo residents. Their Mobile Diabetes Education Center brings diabetes, blood pressure, and other screenings directly into communities. It has conducted more than 580 community visits and reached more than 15,600 people.
11	A.T. Still University–School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona	ATSU-SOMA’s distinctive 1+3 model places students in community health centers for three years of their medical education, embedding training within underserved communities. It’s the only med school with this type of partnership.
12	University of Pikeville–Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine	KYCOM created the first student-run free clinic in Eastern Kentucky. Its BEAR Healthcare Clinic combines medical care with behavioral health, social work, pharmacy, dental, nursing, and child-care services for underserved patients.
13	Lincoln Memorial University–DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine	LMU-DCOM requires students to complete a Rural/Underserved Outpatient Care rotation focused on primary care in communities with limited healthcare resources. The school was founded specifically to increase physician access in Appalachia and also participates in regional initiatives addressing these disparities.
14	East Tennessee State University James H. Quillen College of Medicine	Every third-year student completes a five-week Underserved Medicine Clerkship, including immersion in rural communities. The school also maintains a dedicated Rural Primary Care Track and an EQUIP pipeline, which specifically recruits students from rural and underserved communities who want to serve those areas as physicians.
15	Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine	DMU’s multispecialty clinic handles more than 32,000 patient visits each year, while the university also provides free health programs and community outreach.
16	Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine	Community care is incorporated directly into the curriculum. Students serve at Caridad Center and Mission Medical Center, having around 12 patient encounters per week throughout the academic year. Students and faculty also run Saturday clinics and operate Project Grow, which provides nutritious food and education to Caridad patients.
17	University of Kansas School of Medicine	The student-led JayDoc Free Clinic has provided free healthcare to uninsured and underinsured Kansas City and Wichita residents since 2003. It has served thousands of patients and expanded to include specialized care.
18	Marian University Tom and Julie Wood College of Osteopathic Medicine	Students work at Indianapolis’ Near West Free Clinic, which provides screenings, chronic disease care, pediatrics, mental health services, and more. The clinic served nearly 750 patients in its first year.
19	Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine	TouroCOM operates a student-run free clinic for uninsured and underinsured Harlem residents and holds recurring community health fairs. Services include preventive screenings, vaccinations, counseling, and referrals.
20	Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine	LUCOM provides free osteopathic care and community medical outreach while producing a high share of primary care physicians. Students frequently participate in mobile clinics to offer free exams and treatments to underserved communities.

Methodology

Many med schools say they're committed to community, but we went beyond mission statements to create this list. We looked for real evidence to back up these claims. We reviewed recent, publicly available information on each medical school’s clinics, systems, or community health initiatives.

These were the five main factors we considered to narrow down our list of the top 20:

Free and direct community care: We ensured the med schools routinely offer free clinics, mobile health services, screenings, outreach programs, and other initiatives providing care directly to local communities.
Service to high-need populations: We looked for programs that specifically support rural, medically underserved, uninsured, low-income, or otherwise underserved populations.
Reach and scale: The med schools had to provide real numbers for the number of patients, communities, or geographic areas their students and faculty have served. We prioritized programs that have reached at least a few hundred people annually or have sustained reach across multiple underserved communities or regions.
Long-term investment: The med schools on our list have established clinics, rural health programs, community partnerships, and consistent efforts rather than one-time service events.
Workforce impact: We looked for evidence that the med schools’ grads continued their work post-graduation by practicing in primary care, rural communities, or Health Professional Shortage Areas.