Medical Education
With philanthropic investments from donors, Atrium Health will continue to improve the vitality of the Greater Charlotte area by delivering the future healthcare workforce and advancing the best standards of care. Through Wake Forest School of Medicine-Charlotte, Atrium Health now offers outstanding facilities and programs for the next generation, creating a diverse learning healthcare system. There are many opportunities to support our efforts to transform medical education and prepare the healthcare workforce of tomorrow. Through philanthropy, we will:
- Develop the next generation of medical education programming and facilities.
- Build upon the robust, nationally renowned graduate medical education program Atrium offers today to include more innovative and strategic residencies and fellowships to attract highly trained and compassionate professionals.
- Leverage technology to allow remote learning opportunities for our students.
- Provide additional, state-of-the-art spaces where our learners of all clinical disciplines can collaborate in person and interact with the latest medical innovations through hands-on experiences.
- Create endowed faculty chair positions, supporting academic endeavors, pilot research, and funds for residencies and medical fellowships.
Read the latest giving news in Medical Education:
The Pearl Launches in Charlotte as a Blueprint for Health Care Transformation
Inaugural Shelton – Houser Endowed Chair for Cognitive Health Named
The Pearl: Where charlotte grows together
Charlotte’s first innovation district—The Pearl—officially opened its doors in June of 2025, marking the launch of a transformative new model in healthcare. Developed in partnership with Atrium Health and Wexford Science & Technology and anchored by the Wake Forest University School of Medicine-Charlotte and IRCAD North America, The Pearl is a leading educational destination for our region’s future doctors, nurses, and healthcare leaders. A bustling medical innovation district that fosters collaboration, The Pearl is poised to attract students, researchers, tech startups, and biomedical companies well into the future.
Community partners have been instrumental, driving more than $39 million in charitable commitments to the Pearl.
Welcoming the inaugural class of Wake Forest University School of Medicine-Charlotte
The Howard R. Levine Center for Education anchors the Wake Forest University School of Medicine-Charlotte—Charlotte’s first four-year medical school, which welcomed its inaugural class in July of 2025. The new campus, home to Carolinas College of Health Sciences, is a dynamic hub for medical education that demonstrates Atrium Health’s commitment to collaborative, community-focused physician training.
With their transformational gift through the Howard R. Levine Foundation, benefactors Howard and Julie Levine set the pace for numerous additional donations to the school.
“The Howard R. Levine Center for Education will literally change the trajectory of young people’s lives for decades to come,” said Eugene A. Woods, chief executive officer of Advocate Health. “Specifically, it will enable us to equip future health clinicians with the curriculum, tools and facilities to create an educational experience that is constantly on the cutting edge of the latest science. As importantly, it will enable us to expand career pathways to underserved populations through targeted pipeline programs in coordination with the other educational institutions in this region.”
Creating Pathways to Success and Nurturing HealthCare Leaders of Tomorrow
The Carolinas College of Health Sciences
The Charlotte-based Carolinas College of Health Sciences is an accredited public, non-profit college that offers associate degrees, certificate programs, and several bachelor’s degrees in a variety of healthcare programs. Owned by Atrium Health, it serves as a major source of talent for the organization, with over 90% of students entering its workforce upon graduation. For over 80 years, Carolinas College has operated career-connected learning programs, providing students with general education courses that prepare them for transition into a healthcare curriculum. What began as a hospital-based educational institution in the 1940s grew to become accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges in the 1990s—at which time the name was officially changed to Carolinas College of Health Sciences.
The college has a rich history of preparing employment-ready individuals for positions in nursing, nurse aide, clinical laboratory science, histotechnology, radiation therapy, radiologic technology, computed tomography, mammography, and neurodiagnostic technology. Currently, Carolinas College offers over 30 programs, including Master’s, Bachelor’s, and Associate-level degree programs, certificate programs, and non-degree healthcare training courses.
Hawthorne Academy of Health Sciences
In 2024, Atrium Health Foundation announced a landmark donation of $26.3 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies as part of its $250 million initiative to connect healthcare and education systems to new career and technical education and early college high schools in 10 metropolitan and rural communities across the U.S.
Representing the largest grant ever received by Atrium Health Foundation, to date, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ investment enabled Atrium Health and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools—in an unprecedented partnership—to establish a new early college model with the creation of Hawthorne Academy of Health Sciences.
Hawthorne Academy prepares high school students for well-paying careers in healthcare and addresses local education and healthcare talent needs. The early college model integrates healthcare career knowledge and job-training with a high-quality, comprehensive high school experience for students in Charlotte, graduating them directly into high-demand healthcare jobs that can offer economic prosperity.
Bank of America Meaningful Medicine
As part of a broader public-private partnership to forge healthy futures for students and local communities, Meaningful Medicine was established in 2022 with a landmark $10 million grant from Bank of America to Atrium Health Foundation. It unites the best innovations within healthcare, social impact, and workforce development to directly target health access and economic mobility in Charlotte.
At Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, the Meaningful Medicine initiative is helping increase access to health and emotional wellness resources and expand career training opportunities for students during high school and post-graduation. Specifically, the initiative is advancing nursing and medical-related training programs for CMS high school students through three Atrium Health-led career pathway programs that offer targeted healthcare training experiences:
- Propelling Adolescents Towards Careers in Healthcare (PATCH), an eight-week curriculum exposure to healthcare careers through professional development
- A paid internship program available to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools high school students
- Rise to Success, a three-year program for students pursuing an associate's degree in a healthcare field
endowed and distinguished chairs
Philanthropy has been instrumental in establishing 25 endowed chairs at Atrium Health, each made possible by philanthropy. A prestigious honor, an endowed chair provides permanent funding for a physician or researcher’s work, ensuring sustained innovation and advancing critical research that improves patient care for generations to come.