Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center on Thursday night announced the public phase of a comprehensive campaign to raise $350 million to further its mission in patient care, education and research.
Medical Center officials also shared that Wake Forest School of Medicine’s new building in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter will be named the Bowman Gray Medical Education Building. In 1939, a gift from Gray’s estate helped bring the medical school to Winston-Salem. The School of Medicine later affiliated with North Carolina Baptist Hospital to create the Medical Center.
John D. McConnell, M.D., chief executive officer of Wake Forest Baptist, said the campaign will focus primarily on people and programs involved in carrying out the Medical Center’s mission and on key construction projects, including the Bowman Gray Medical Education Building.
“We have extraordinary potential to improve health in transformative ways, and that’s what our campaign is about,” McConnell said. “Philanthropy invested in Wake Forest Baptist’s people and programs will help transform our work in biomedical research, patient care and education. Connecting with individuals who understand and care about our mission can have a profound impact.”
Areas of focus for the campaign include cancer, aging and Alzheimer’s disease, children’s health, diabetes and obesity, heart and vascular, regenerative medicine and medical education.
Campaign Chair Jim Johnston said that approximately $212 million has been raised toward the campaign goal during its initial leadership phase, and the remainder will be raised by the end of 2018.
“My time as an executive with R.J. Reynolds convinced me that the mission and work of Wake Forest Baptist is critical to each and every one of us,” Johnston said. “It’s vital to our community and to countless people around the country and around the world who will have their lives affected through the care provided by a Wake Forest Baptist-trained physician or from a cure that’s developed right here at our Medical Center.”
This effort is part of Wake Will, the campaign for Wake Forest University, which has a goal to raise a combined $1 billion for the University and the Medical Center.
“This is a moment when there is a role for everyone to play,” said Norman D. Potter, Wake Forest Baptist’s vice president of development and alumni affairs. “We want to connect with individuals who have a passion that intersects with our mission to improve health. It includes alumni, members of the community, our faculty and staff, and anyone who has a desire to improve health.”
Media Relations
Mac Ingraham: mingraha@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-3487
Shannon Putnam: news@wakehealth.edu, 336-713-4587