The West Virginia Legislature appropriated funding for the school in 1975,[4] the Liaison Committee on Medical Education granted provisional accreditation in 1977,[5] and the first class entered in January 1978 and graduated in 1981.
[10] The school describes itself as "non-traditional" in that it is not associated with a major research and referral hospital, and students do not take classes in a segregated single building separate from the university.
First year students mainly attend classes on-campus in the Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center (Marshall University) and also take anatomy classes and use library resources at the Robert W. Coon Medical Education Building, located seven miles from campus at the Huntington Department of Veterans Affairs (V.A.)
Second year classes are held at the Erma Ora Byrd Clinical Center (opened in 2007) on the site of the former Fairfield Stadium near Cabell Huntington Hospital where the nationally recognized Forensic Science Program is also located.
Under the direction of Dr. David Gozal, MD, MBA, PhD, Marshall has continued to build on its mission of educating a physician workforce for the Appalachian region.
In 2015, the school enrolled its first class into the newly created BS/MD program for West Virginia students, which allows them to complete their bachelor's and medical degrees in seven years.