WARRENSVILLE HEIGHTS, Ohio -A new medical school, an extension of Ohio University's Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, will open at Cleveland Clinic's South Pointe Hospital.

The Clinic and OU, which announced the affiliation Monday, will invest a combined $49 million to address the growing shortage of primary care doctors in Ohio.

The agreement builds upon a long-standing relationship between the Clinic and the Athens-based medical school, which have partnered to train physicians for the past 35 years. South Pointe Hospital is one of the largest osteopathic teaching hospitals in the state and OU students have done third- and fourth-year clinical rotations there for decades.

The school also further enhances the reputation of northeast Ohio as one of the nation's leading medical centers.

The first class of 32 medical students is scheduled to begin August 2015, assuming approvals by the American Osteopathic Association Council on Osteopathic College Accreditation and the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association.

Osteopathic physicians and medical doctors both attend four years of medical school. They complete their training during the same residency programs and pass the same licensing exams. The difference is in the teaching style and focus during medical school.

Osteopathic schools instruct students to look at the whole patient, not just symptoms, an approach now embraced by medical schools. Osteopathic students also are educated in osteopathic manipulative treatment, which involves manual diagnosis and treatment. Not all osteopathic physicians use that in their practice.

Most osteopathic doctors specialize in family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics, OU officials said.

OU will spend $36 million, which includes renovating 60,000 square feet in a clinical and office building on the South Pointe Hospital campus and hiring faculty and staff. The Clinic's contribution of $13 million will go toward building renovations as well as medical education support. That amount includes $5 million from the private, non-profit Brentwood Foundation, which is dedicated to the advancement of osteopathic medicine. The foundation is also providing a $6 million grant for graduate medical education.

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Ohio University to operate medical school at Cleveland Clinic's South Pointe Hospital