The mission of the Heritage College is to emphasize the practice of primary care and train physicians to serve Ohio, especially in the underserved Appalachian and urban areas of the state.

In 1823, the board of trustees of Ohio University passed a resolution forming a committee to "take into consideration the expediency of establishing a Medical School".

[6] In 1989, John Kopchick, Ph.D., an endocrinologist and the Goll-Ohio Eminent Scholar and Professor of Molecular Biology at the Heritage College, discovered a compound that would go on to become Pegvisomant (Somavert), a growth hormone receptor antagonist used to treat acromegaly.

[12] In July 2015, the first class of 50 students are expected to begin at the Cleveland Clinic's campus at South Pointe Hospital.

The Heritage medical campus is located near O'Bleness Hospital in Athens which is operated by Ohio Health.

Students enrolled in the more traditional CPC study a curriculum organized around important symptoms and take part in extensive lectures, problem sets and panel discussions.

Several combined degree programs are available as well, including:[4] "Southeast Ohio is the beneficiary of roughly $63 million in social and economic gains from the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine's health services and clinics, most of which are free, according to a recent social return on investment analysis of the college's Community Health Programs (CHP).