In 2019, during his first year as one of Atrium Health’s top executives, Rasu Shrestha visited the Strasbourg, France headquarters of the “institut de Recherche contre les Cancers de l’Appareil Digestif” or IRCAD, a global organization for surgical research and education.
Around that time, Atrium Health disclosed plans to combine with Wake Forest Baptist Health, the Winston-Salem-based system affiliated with Wake Forest University’s medical school. It was two years before Atrium combined with a Chicago healthcare system to form Advocate Health, now the fourth-largest U.S. hospital operator.
Meeting with IRCAD founder Jacques Marescaux in the French city near the German border, Shrestha emphasized the potential benefits of a collaboration between Atrium and a nonprofit group affiliated with thousands of global surgeons.
Provide Atrium exclusivity for IRCAD’s efforts in North America, and the healthcare system would make it a primary focus of its research efforts, Shrestha told the French physician. But wouldn’t that preclude IRCAD from connecting with more famous research groups such as the Mayo Clinic or the Cleveland Clinic, Marescaux asked.
That was an advantage, Shrestha contended, because IRCAD would become a focal point for Atrium’s nascent research effort — not just another piece of a large, well-known organization, he said.
To Shrestha’s amazement, Marescaux promptly said yes. The two men shook hands.
Six years later, IRCAD launched its first training session for surgeons last week at The Pearl innovation district in Charlotte. The research group is the anchor tenant for one of the two buildings that opened this summer near the edge of Charlotte’s center city. The other structure houses Wake Forest School of Medicine’s new campus, which just welcomed its first class of 49 students, selected from more than 12,000 applications.
Shrestha shared the story during comments, and a later interview, at the N.C. Biotech Center’s Summit 2025, held Thursday at the Pearl. It’s the first time the Durham-based center has held its biggest annual gathering in the Queen City. But Biotech Center CEO Doug Edgeton noted Charlotte’s emerging role in medical research and manufacturing, led by Eli Lilly’s new $1 billion factory in adjacent Cabarrus County.
Over the next year, Shreshta says 8,000 physicians are likely to visit Charlotte for IRCAD programs at The Pearl. They will have training opportunities and a chance to bump shoulders with other surgeons focused on cutting-edge research and equipment.
Shreshta views the effort as a huge victory that combines a leading research group with the financial prowess of Advocate Health. It has annual revenues topping $35 billion.
Advocate’s exclusive relationship with IRCAD in North America, the world’s dominant healthcare market, puts it in a position to fulfill CEO Eugene Woods’ goal to make Charlotte the “epicenter of global medical technology research,” he noted. Shreshta is president of IRCAD’s board, in addition to his post as Advocate’s chief innovation and commercialization officer.
Some of the world’s major medical-equipment companies have taken notice and are leasing space at The Pearl. They include Siemens Healthineers, Stryker, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson and Boston Scientific.
IRCAD has training sites in seven other nations, including ones added in China and India over the past two years. It offers dozens of courses related to general surgery, cardiovascular surgery, neurosurgery, and orthopedic surgery
Construction of a hotel and restaurant at the Pearl is likely to start next year, Shreshta said. While Advocate leads the development, its real estate partner is Baltimore-based Wexford Science + Technology, which specializes in working with medical centers, universities and research groups.
In March, Advocate made a report on The Pearl to the Charlotte City Council that cited $965 million in private investments as of that date. About 29% of “the total cost of work” has been awarded to minority- or women-owned enterprises, according to the report.
In 2021, the city and Mecklenburg County agreed to provide $75 million in financial assistance for the project.
David Mildenberg is editor of Business North Carolina. Reach him at dmildenberg@businessnc.com.