Wake Forest School of Medicine has served the needs of persons with sickle cell disease for many decades. In 2004, the Wake Forest University Sickle Cell Center of Excellence was established, offering the only Comprehensive Sickle Cell Program in the region which continues to the present day. In 2011, David M. Cline, MD was named site principal investigator for grant funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to improve care in emergency departments for adults with sickle cell disease at Duke and at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem North Carolina. Dr. Cline and his team works closely with the sickle cell center hematologists, social workers and educators to provide seamless care in the emergency department, in-patient, and outpatient setting.

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the nation’s best hospitals in seven areas: Cancer, Gastroenterology, Geriatrics, Kidney Disorders, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Pulmonology and Urology. It is ranked as high-performing in five other areas: Cardiology and Heart Surgery, Diabetes and Endocrinology, Ear, Nose and Throat, Gynecology and Orthopaedics. It also was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the No. 2 hospital in North Carolina and as the top hospital in the Piedmont regional rankings.