Carolinas Medical Center (CMC) is an 874-bed

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

, research and

academic medical center An academic medical centre (AMC), variously also known as academic health science centre, academic health science system, or academic health science partnership, is an educational and healthcare institute formed by the grouping of a health profes ...

located in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, servicing the southern North Carolina, northern South Carolina, and the

Metrolina The Charlotte metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as Metrolina, is a metropolitan area of the U.S. states of North and South Carolina, within and surrounding the city of Charlotte. The metropolitan area also includes the cities of Gastonia, ...

region. Carolinas Medical Center is one of the region's only academic university-level teaching centers. The hospital is the flagship hospital of

Atrium Health Atrium Health, formerly Carolinas HealthCare System, is a hospital network with more than 70,000 employees and part of Advocate Aurora Health. It operates 40 hospitals, 7 freestanding emergency departments, over 30 urgent care centers, and more t ...

. Carolinas Medical Center is affiliated with the

Wake Forest School of Medicine Wake Forest University School of Medicine is the medical school of Wake Forest University, with two campuses located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is affiliated with Atrium Health Wake Forest B ...

. Carolinas Medical Center is also an ACS designated level I trauma center and has a heliport to handle medevac patients. Attached to the medical center is the

Levine Children's Hospital Levine Children's Hospital is a 234-bed pediatric hospital located on the campus of Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Operated by Atrium Health Atrium Health, formerly Carolinas HealthCare System, is a hospital network with ...

, treating infants, children, adolescents, and young adults.

History

The hospital was organized in 1940 as Charlotte Memorial Hospital on Blythe Boulevard in the Dilworth neighborhood. Since that time, the hospital has undergone several major expansions, bringing the licensed bed capacity to 874 beds. In May 1970, the organ Transplant program began with the first cadaveric kidney transplant performed by Dr. Don Mullen and Dr. Dale Ensor. This was one of the first transplants in the USA done outside a medical school setting. A year later, Mullen and Ensor performed the first living related transplant. Dr. Francis Robicsek performed the first

heart transplant A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common proce ...

at Carolinas Medical Center in 1986. In 2007, the multistory

was completed and opened, making it the second largest children's hospital in the Southeastern United States, after

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

In 2010, the

University of North Carolina School of Medicine The University of North Carolina School of Medicine is a professional school within the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It offers a Doctor of Medicine degree along with combined Doctor of Medicine / Doctor of Philosophy or Doctor of M ...

established the Charlotte Campus of the UNC School of Medicine at Carolinas Medical Center. Students from UNC School of Medicine had been completing clinical rotations at Carolinas Medical Center for over 40 years prior. On July 28, 2011, '' Becker's Hospital Review'' listed Carolinas Medical Center under 60 Hospitals with Great Orthopedic Programs. In October 2020,

and

began an agreement to make Carolinas Medical Center one of its flagship teaching hospitals along with the creation of a Charlotte campus of its medical school. Today, Carolinas Medical Center is the region's only Level 1 Trauma Center and part of

, one of the largest public not-for-profit healthcare systems in the United States.

References

External links

Carolinas Medical Center

Charlotte Memorial Hospital in 1972
{{authority control Atrium Health Hospitals in Charlotte, North Carolina Hospitals in North Carolina Trauma centers Public hospitals in the United States