Lower Cape Fear LifeCare recently held a dedication ceremony to formally name its Wilmington garden the John T. Dees, M.D. and Mrs. Jenny Dees Heritage Garden.   “Our garden is one with a purpose,” Gwen Whitely, the hospice group’s president and CEO, said in a news release. “Although the garden certainly is a place of beauty and offers comfor ...

The Leapfrog Group recently gave Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center an A letter grade in its spring hospital safety grades. New Hanover Regional Medical Center received a B grade in the same report.   The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit that evaluates the safety and patient experience provided by hospitals across the country. The grades – from A to ...

As part of its acquisition by Novant Health, NHRMC is putting together an advisory council made up of community members from the tri-county area.   The Coastal Region Community Engagement Advisory Council is expected to have 25-30 members. The group will have individuals from the community as well as leaders from New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Novant Health Br ...

Wilmington-based PPD has opened a clinical research laboratory in Suzhou, China, aimed at supporting global and China-based pharmaceutical and biotech companies managing China research studies, according to a press release. The 67,000-square-foot multipurpose lab facility will offer bioanalytical, biomarker and vaccine laboratory services that support trials in all phas ...

CastleBranch, the Wilmington-based consumer reporting agency, touts its status as “one of the first companies in the world” to issue a COVID-19 vaccination ID card.   The digital pass, which provides proof of vaccination to third parties, allows someone to enter a business, school, concert, sporting event or other site that may require such certification ...

The growth Wilmington-headquartered PPD Inc. has experienced in the Port City is an economic driver for the region, local economic development leaders say.   On top of the global contract research organization’s large tax base in New Hanover County and its 1,800 local employees, it can also lay claim to having a big role in spawning the region’s clinical ...

NHRMC is expanding its footprint on the northern side of New Hanover County. New Hanover Regional Medical Center, a part of Novant Health, is being granted a certificate of need (CON) to build a new 66-bed acute care hospital in Scotts Hill, according to an announcement Thursday. Construction is expected to begin in 2022, with an opening around 2024, a news release s ...

Nearly three months after purchasing NHRMC, Novant Health is beefing up the “regional” in New Hanover Regional Medical Center. The private, nonprofit announced a series of changes Tuesday that integrate key NHRMC leaders into Novant’s newly formed Coastal market as well as systemwide roles with the Winston-Salem-based health network. The new lineup mea ...

The acquisition of Wilmington-based PPD Inc. could go two ways for the company's base in Wilmington, said Adam Jones, an economist with the University of North Carolina Wilmington. "It could be a threat to the location as headquarters operations get rolled into a larger organization (potentially elsewhere), or it could mean more resources for the organization t ...

It’s not every day the Wall Street Journal writes about a homegrown Wilmington company being sold for $17 billion.   In fact, that sentence has never been written anywhere before this week.   The news that Pharmaceutical Product Development (now known as PPD), which started 36 years ago as a one-person consulting firm, is likely being sold for $17.4 bil ...