The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM), formally named the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, is a private, non-profit osteopathic medical school with two campuses: the Virginia Campus (VCOM-VC) located in Blacksburg, Virginia and the Carolinas Campus (VCOM-CC) located in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The Virginia Campus is located in the Corporate Research Center of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The school is one of 25 colleges of osteopathic medicine in the United States, and one of four located in the Appalachian Region. On June 2, 2007, VCOM graduated its first class of 139 students. The school was founded in 2002, when Virginia Tech and the Harvey W. Peters Research Foundation worked together to start up a new private school of osteopathic medicine called the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM). The mission of the school is to help alleviate the critical shortage of physicians in Appalachia. The school places primary recruiting on students from a rural Appalachian background, particularly the rural sections of central and southwestern Virginia and North Carolina.