OSU medical students to train in Lima starting in 2026

LIMA — The first cohort of community medicine students from The Ohio State University Medical School visited Lima Thursday, catching a glimpse of the city where they will spend their final two years of medical school.

The medical school welcomed 15 first-year community medicine students in August through its partnership with Mercy Health-St. Rita’s Medical Center, where those students will spend their clinical rotations starting in 2026.

The new program is designed to train physicians to work in small towns and under-served communities where the nation’s physician shortage is most acute.

The healthcare workforce is currently concentrated in cities with large academic medical centers, but “that’s not really serving the healthcare needs of our nation,” said Carol Bradford, dean of OSU Medical School and vice president of health sciences for OSU-Wexner Medical Center in Columbus. “So, we have to change the paradigm.”

OSU chose Lima as the location for community medicine clinicals because of the school’s pre-existing relationship with Mercy Health and OSU-Lima campus, Bradford said.

Students who enroll in the community medicine track spend their first two years studying in Columbus, followed by two years of clinical rotations in Lima.

“We know access to care is a challenge in so many communities,” said Ronda Lehman, president of the Mercy Health-Lima market. “The sooner people get access to care, the better their overall health are going to be throughout their life.”

St. Rita’s already trains nearly 300 resident physicians in Lima each year. The health system’s partnership with OSU will bring still more aspiring physicians to Lima, where they’ll be exposed to a variety of specialties through clinicals.

By training in Lima, the future physicians will “be grounded in what it means to practice in a rural community such as ours,” Lehman said.

Elyjah Roa thought the community medicine track was a “perfect” fit, given his desire to return to his hometown when he finished medical school and residency training. The OSU-Lima and Wapakoneta High School graduate is interested in working with free mobile clinics for people who may otherwise go without medical care.

“The fact that this [community medicine] track is based here, and I’ll be doing my training here, I didn’t think there was a better choice,” Roa said.