Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
Wake Forest University School of Medicine and North Carolina Baptist Hospital celebrated the beginning of a partnership in 1941 when Baptist Hospital became the teaching facility for Wake Forest University School of Medicine. The partnership is known as Wake Forest University/Baptist Medical Center or The Medical Center. Together the two institutions form one of 126 academic medical centers in the country.
The Medical Center is a regional referral center providing tertiary care for patients from a geographic area covering approximately five million people. It is the principal referral center for the Piedmont area, western North Carolina, southwestern Virginia, eastern Tennessee, and portions of South Carolina. The Medical Center also serves as a national and international resource for numerous clinical specialties, caring for patients from across the United States and several foreign countries.
Patients throughout our referral area and beyond come to the Medical Center for unique, technologically advanced, medically necessary services that are not available in their own communities. For over 50 years, the Medical Center has been striving to be one of the premier healthcare providers in the United States. Our expertise, technological advances, and multidisciplinary approach have been critical factors in our search for excellence.
The mission of the Medical Center demands excellence in each of three disciplines: education, research, and patient care. The foundation of our educational program is the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, which possesses a tradition of leadership in both medical education and biomedical research. Baptist Hospital has significant research and education missions as well, however, it is first and foremost a provider of clinical patient care services.
The Wake Forest University School of Medicine, with over 500 clinical faculty (96% of whom are board certified in their specialty) and more than 200 non-clinical faculty are supported by nearly 2,000 Medical School personnel and nearly 6,000 North Carolina Baptist Hospital employees. An 11 story Clinical Science Building provides 308,000 square feet for outpatient services. The Medical Center offers ambulatory services in more than 70 general and specialty areas and has a total of 806 active beds with the Hematology and Oncology Service being the second largest service.
The Wake Forest University School of Medicine and The North Carolina Baptist Hospital also share many joint service functions to further their close partnership in health care. Appointments of Medical School Associate Deans and Hospital Vice Presidents exist overseeing critical functions of Development, Facilities Planning and Construction, Information Systems, and Professional Affairs/Strategic Planning and Program Development. Additionally, joint programs such as the Developmental Technology Committee oversees intramural research funding on investigator‑initiated research proposals which may benefit the delivery of health services.