Wake Forest Baptist Health, Wake Forest University and Atrium Health announced plans to create a medical school in Charlotte. It will be part of what officials are calling a new academic healthcare system.
According to a joint statement, the organizations will open a second campus in the North Carolina city. Charlotte is one the largest in the country without a top-ranked medical school.
There are also plans to expand patient-centered research and innovation through the partnership.
In an email to the Wake Forest community Wednesday, President Nathan Hatch wrote, "By strengthening and expanding medical education, we will open many doors for future health care leaders and also play a leading national role in medical research."
Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag is CEO of Wake Forest Baptist Health and Dean of Wake Forest School of Medicine. She says Winston-Salem will benefit from the partnership.
“Atrium also is interested in placing companies and people in our Innovation Quarter," she says. "So we actually think there will be more businesses, more jobs, more things going on in Winston-Salem with them joining us. So, if anything, we're going to grow here, be the hub, and the medical school in Charlotte will be a branch of our school.”
There are still many unknowns and a lot of details to be worked out. The three entities are entering into negotiations with the goal of finalizing a formal agreement later this year.
Atrium Health currently serves nearly 14 million patients each year. Wake Forest Baptist Health serves 2.2 million.