Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine, often boasting one of the nation’s largest populations of veteran students among medical schools, is launching a new partnership to provide veterans with more opportunities to attend medical school in Northeast Tennessee.

Through a unique admissions pathway with Special Operations Forces to School of Medicine (SOFtoSOM), the Quillen College of Medicine will guarantee interviews to qualifying candidates and provide direct admission to up to three candidates per cycle who meet set qualifications.

The Quillen College of Medicine is the only M.D. program in the nation with a direct admissions pathway with SOFtoSOM. It will begin with the Class of 2029 application cycle.

In the last five years, Quillen has enrolled 29 veterans and graduated more than 150 since it was established more than a half-century ago.

“We are incredibly proud of Quillen College of Medicine’s long track record of supporting our veteran students,” said Dr. Bill Block, dean of the college and vice president for Clinical Affairs at ETSU. “Being located on the Mountain Home VA campus offers an ever-present reminder of our commitment to support those who serve our nation.”

SOFtoSOM started as a group of service members connecting through social media to assist each other in their journey to medical school. In 2023, they officially founded SOFtoSOM as the first nonprofit dedicated to helping special forces operators pursue medicine.

ETSU has been recognized as a Military Friendly® School for 15 consecutive years. In April, ETSU earned Gold status in the 2025-26 Military Friendly® School rankings, becoming one of just 32 large public institutions to receive the Gold-level designation. Schools are awarded through a rigorous evaluation of public data, student feedback and institutional programs.