Joseph Maxwell Cleland Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC)  is one of eight medical centers in the VA Southeast Network serving the men and women who serve or have served the United States Armed Forces. Emory University and Atlanta VAMC share back-to-back campuses and a partnership that stretches back more than six decades. Atlanta VAMC is a teaching hospital, providing a full range of patient care services complete with state-of-the-art technology, education, and research. The Atlanta VAMC is closely affiliated with Emory University and benefits from partnerships with other research institutions based in Atlanta, including Morehouse School of Medicine, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University, and the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC). The close proximity of these institutions and their shared interests in developing the highest quality research programs provides an outstanding environment for basic and clinical research programs.  

Laboratory  

The Atlanta VAMC conducts a highly active research program and is one of the largest VA research programs in the nation. Its research program involves over 350 projects conducted by 135 principal research investigators with more than 300 research associates and staff. To advance research veterans’ brain health, the program supports research in the areas of neuro-injury, PTSD, and domestic violence. The program is fully accredited by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protections Programs (AAHRPP) and is fortunate to include one of the national VA Rehabilitation Research Centers of Excellence, a growing HSR&D research program, and research programs focused on medical and clinical problems, rehabilitation medicine and engineering, as well as health services and outcomes research.  

Clinical 

Atlanta VAMC is the hub of Atlanta's VA Healthcare System, which reaches far and wide to serve 22 locations, including 21 community-based outpatient clinics and the medical center itself. Throughout the healthcare system, over 900,000 patient appointments were completed fiscal year 2025. The hospital is a Level 1A facility, maintains 405 authorized beds, and is staffed by over 300 Emory physicians who provide the majority of patient care. With extensive training in emergency medicine, primary care, and tertiary care, VAMC’s physicians and medical staff provide comprehensive care to the third largest Veteran population in the United States, serving over 1.4 million veterans living in its geographic area. To these veterans, it also provides long-terms care in the areas of surgery, mental health, physical rehabilitation, neurology, oncology, dentistry, geriatrics, and extended care