Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s internationally accredited nurse anesthesia program will move to 525@vine in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter this summer.
The longest continually running nurse anesthesia program in North Carolina will move 55 faculty, staff and students from its present location at the Medical Center’s main campus to the second floor of 525@vine. The move is expected to take place in July.
The program will join two other School of Medicine programs that are already located at 525@vine. The Division of Public Health Sciences (PHS) and Department of Physician Assistant Studies (PA Studies) became some of the first tenants when the building opened in June last year.
“Our nurse anesthesia program is the first in the country to be accredited internationally,” said Edward Abraham, M.D., dean of Wake Forest School of Medicine. “This move allows the program to continue to excel as a leader in nurse anesthesia education by placing faculty and students in a collaborative space with other School of Medicine programs and offering today’s students state-of-the-art technology and learning spaces.”
The program will expand from 4,440 square feet of space at its current location to 11,000 square feet of new learning space at 525@vine.
“Being next to the PHS and PA Studies programs opens the door for collaborative and inter-professional activities that were not available to us before,” said Michael Rieker, D.N.P., C.R.N.A., program director of Nurse Anesthesia. “We have a reputation as a top-quality program, and that will continue to advance with the help of the up-to-date learning, skills and simulation labs, collaborative classrooms and distance learning capabilities the new space provides.”
The two-year Nurse Anesthesia program consists of 48 students with 24 students in each year’s class. Wake Forest School of Medicine confers the Master of Science in Nurse Anesthesia degree upon graduates of the program. Graduates become certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) and are prepared to plan, administer and manage anesthetic care to a wide range of patients and in diverse settings.
The program that started in 1942 also offers a certificate in Global Health through collaboration with the School of Medicine.
The move of the Nurse Anesthesia program to 525@vine this summer means all School of Medicine educational programs will be located in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter by July 2016 when the medical education building being built from renovating and refurbishing part of the former 60 series R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company complex opens adjacent to 525@vine.
“The addition of the Nurse Anesthesia program to the Innovation Quarter will be another boost to this expanding downtown climate,” said Eric Tomlinson, D.Sc., Ph.D., chief innovation officer, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, and president, Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. “Together with the impending move of the School of Medicine beginning in July 2016 when the medical education building opens, the Innovation Quarter proves to be one of the fastest growing urban-based districts for innovation in science, business and education in the United States.”
Ninety-four percent of 525@vine will be leased with the arrival of the Nurse Anesthesia program. Other 525@vine tenants include: The Innovation Quarter YMCA of Northwest North Carolina; Flywheel, a co-working innovation space; Forsyth Tech at Innovation Quarter; and the headquarters of Clinical Ink, a provider of electronic data-capturing technology for clinical research. Mullen, a full-service marketing communications firm announced in January it would move in, December 2015.
Media Relations
Mac Ingraham: mingraha@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-3487
Shannon Putnam: news@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-4587