WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Dec. 8, 2014 Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center today announced plans for a new medical education building for its School of Medicine. Funding for this $50 million capital project is part of a larger capital campaign that will be publicly launched next summer.

The medical education building will be located in the former 60 series R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company complex, adjacent to 525@vine in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter. Construction will begin immediately with plans to be ready to welcome medical students in July 2016.

The medical education building is Wake Forest Baptists most significant capital improvement project reliant upon philanthropy in decades.

Wake Forest School of Medicines presence in Winston-Salem is a tribute to philanthropy, said Wake Forest Baptists Chief Executive Officer, John D. McConnell, M.D., and we owe our thanks to leaders like James A. Gray and Bowman Gray whose example continues to inspire us. Building upon that legacy, we embark upon this exciting component for the School, which is also contingent upon philanthropic leadership. We continue to look to our partners who have helped make an investment in the health of the community, the economic base of downtown Winston-Salem and the future of medicine and innovation in biomedical science and information technology in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.

Hand in hand with our philanthropic efforts, the Medical Center is fortunate in that Building 60-3 is a historic property, which qualifies the project for Historic, New Markets and State Mill tax credits, McConnell added. These tax credits significantly lower the cost of this project and make it possible, but because those tax credits sunset on Dec. 31, 2014, timing is crucial. That is why we are starting immediately.

The timing of the opening of the medical education building will coincide with Wake Forest Baptist introducing one of the most advanced medical school curriculums in the country, and will allow medical students to prepare for real-life experiences in the most modern of settings available for clinics and exam rooms, complete with the new informatics and technologies commonly used in patient care today.

In addition to training in the most advanced environments for outpatient clinics, medical students and faculty will learn in small group learning spaces, an anatomy lab, clinical skills labs and patient simulation suites, while support services including a student lounge, kitchen, faculty offices and meeting spaces will enhance student life and mentoring opportunities.

Wake Forest School of Medicine Dean Edward Abraham, M.D., said the time has come to create a medical training facility that matches the schools reputation as providing one of the highest quality programs in the country.

Our medical schools present facilities have been the training ground for our students since 1969. They have served us well, but our model of patient care has dramatically changed since then. Medicine has fast-forwarded to the digital age with computer-guided imaging and surgical procedures, lasers instead of scalpels and electronic medical records that allow patients to look up their medical test results, speak to their doctors and make appointments from their laptops and cell phones, Abraham said.

We will soon be introducing a leading-edge medical education curriculum that will prepare our highly qualified students to become outstanding physicians, and thus we must have the appropriate facilities to accommodate current learning and teaching styles and space to grow.

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School of Medicine to build downtown