It was named for Congressman Jimmy Quillen, who led the fight to open a second public medical school in Tennessee.

ETSU was also ranked in the top 25% of medical schools for primary care education by U.S. News & World Report.

[1] A study published in the June 15, 2010 edition of Annals of Internal Medicine by a professor of health policy, Fitzhugh Mullan, ranked East Tennessee State University's James H. Quillen College of Medicine as the top school in the nation for producing primary care physicians and 12th among U.S. medical schools on a “social mission” scale.

Congressman Olin Teague of Texas introduced a bill to create five medical schools in conjunction with established VA hospitals.

Congressman Quillen claimed to have introduced an amendment, which required that any university to be considered for acceptance into this pilot program must be on government property contiguous and adjacent to a VA hospital, as East Tennessee State University was adjacent to the Mountain Home VA Hospital.

The act, as passed, required that the new schools be "located in proximity to, and operated in conjunction with, Veterans' Administration medical facilities.

[6] The next step was qualifying for the federal funds under the Teague-Cranston Act, with Quillen working with the State Board of Regents Chancellor Roy Nicks and President Culp on the application, which was approved by the Veterans Administration on July 11, 1974.