Atrium Health acquired Wake Forest Baptist Health in October 2020.
Wake Forest Baptist Health and Atrium Health have announced a strategic brand combination to further unite the two organizations.
Under the new brand, the Winston-Salem, North Carolina academic medical center and health system is now named Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist.
"This is another milestone in our journey to come together for the benefit of our patients and the communities we serve," Julie Ann Freischlag, FACS, FRSCE, MD, CEO of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, dean of Wake Forest School of Medicine, and chief academic officer for Atrium Health said in a statement. "We were pleased we were able to retain our legacy brand, which is so important to our region, to Winston-Salem, and to our affiliation with Wake Forest University."
Atrium Health acquired Wake Forest Baptist Health in October 2020, with Wake Forest School of Medicine becoming the academic Core of Atrium Health, expanding the enterprise to a 42-hospital academic health system serving communities in four states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia.
"People in the North Central and Western North Carolina will soon see our new brand rolled out in advertising and marketing materials, followed by signage and other types of branding in all locations over the next year," Denise Potter, vice president and chief communications, marketing, and media officer for Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist said in a statement.
The new branding will feature Atrium Health's Tree of Life logo. According to Potter, each of the logo's seven tree branches represents a "guiding principle" of the organization, including gentleness, generosity, humility, prudence, wisdom, kindness, loyalty, and courage.
Editor's note: This article was updated on 9/9/2021.
Melanie Blackman is a contributing editor for strategy, marketing, and human resources at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.