Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center Program

Program Identity & Fit

Wake Forest is a long-established, academic tertiary/quaternary EM residency built around a high-volume (nearly 200,000 combined ED visits), Level I adult and pediatric trauma center that serves as the "front door" of the hospital, supplemented by a genuine community-hospital rotation at Moses Cone. The program is structured around graded clinical autonomy, with interns spending over half their first year in the ED and seniors running codes, medical command, and supervising juniors, alongside heavy pediatric (~20% of shifts) and critical care (five ICU rotations) exposure. Scholarly activity is mandatory for all residents but not the program's defining identity; instead it functions as a broad leadership incubator, producing graduates who become department chairs, residency directors, EMS directors, community physicians, and fellows across critical care, EMS, ultrasound, palliative care, research, and pediatric EM. The program explicitly frames itself as training physicians for "whatever setting they choose," valuing character, communication, work ethic, and mentorship-driven career customization over a single fixed track.