With the sun gleaming off its towering windows reflecting the surrounding city, there has been significant progress on the construction of the long-awaited second campus of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Charlotte and the surrounding Innovation District, known as “The Pearl.”
When completed, The Pearl is poised to be a fundamental part of the Charlotte community and will share satellite resources with its sister innovation quarter in Winston-Salem.
The School of Medicine will anchor the Howard R. Levine Center for Education in the heart of The Pearl, and will be joined by Carolinas College of Health Sciences, and connect with Wake Forest University’s School of Professional Studies and School of Business and other educational opportunities. This is the first, four-year medical school in Charlotte. While third and fourth-year students have rotated in Charlotte for their clinical clerkships for years, the campus will now expand and seat its first four-year class in 2025.
Teams are already working with local schools to recruit area students, faculty and administrators to establish a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) laboratory in the Innovation District, with the long-term goal to build a pipeline for our future health care workforce.
The Pearl will also be home to the North American headquarters of IRCAD, the French-based research and training institute for the world’s finest surgeons. IRCAD North America will act as a “super magnet,” attracting businesses, physicians and surgeons to train and collaborate in the latest surgical techniques.