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Bowman Gray School of Medicine

"Faith in God and man and hard work made us succeed."

Dr. Carpenter

Wake Forest University School of Medicine began in the town of Wake Forest in Wake County, North Carolina in 1902. Since then, it has changed locations and its name. A national study of two-year medical schools in the 1930s resulted in them closing due to the excessive amount of doctors in this country or being forced to convert to four-year medical schools. The Bowman Gray Foundation made an offer that Dr. Coy C. Carpenter, a pathologist and dean of the medical school, could not refuse. Based on research, Dr. Carpenter knew that the cost to develop a four-year school was $10 million dollars but the total offer was $600,000 in principal and $150,000 in accumulated interest to any two-year medical school willing to move to Winston-Salem and convert to a four-year medical school. Dr. Carpenter accepted it and the Bowman Gray School of Medicine was born, officially opening to students on September 10, 1941.

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