The University of Memphis is exploring a medical school for the Lambuth Campus in Jackson, President M. David Rudd said Wednesday.

The school would offer a doctor in osteopathic medicine degree instead of a doctor of medicine program. Those who earn a DO degree are fully licensed physicians who target primary care and wellness, according to the American Osteopathic Association.

Rudd said the program would be a natural fit in Jackson, where there is high need and low competition.

"There's a significant need for rural health care," Rudd said during a Board of Trustees meeting.

Medical programs already make up the "core nucleus" of programs on the Lambuth campus, he said, and the DO program would complement those.

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"We'll be talking about it, if the board is supportive, with the legislature in the next session," Rudd said.

Initial feedback was positive.

"I would urge you to move forward," trustee Doug Edwards said.

Rudd said the university is also partnering with Jackson-Madison County Schools to add a high school to the Lambuth campus. The school district will operate the school on land leased to from the university, Rudd said, and students will have the chance to take dual enrollment classes at the university while they are still in high school.

There have previously been discussions between university officials to move Madison Academic High School to Lambuth's campus. Rudd said he did not know if the district would start a new school or move an existing one to the campus and add the dual enrollment program.

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The university, Rudd said, will not have a hand in operations of the high school, unlike its lower education projects in existence in Memphis.

The university has seen high successes with Campus School, its elementary school on the main campus in Memphis. The public school routinely tests as one of the highest in Shelby County Schools and in the state and serves as a learning lab for college students in the university's teaching program.

Rudd also recently announced the university will add a middle school in Memphis.

Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer.pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.