Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC) Highlights and Impact

• Jobs: The WHSC helps make Emory the largest employer in DeKalb County and the second largest employer in metro Atlanta.
• Economic impact: With $4.5 billion in operating expenditures in fiscal year 2018, the WHSC’s annual economic impact on metro Atlanta is $8.8 billion.
• Groundbreaking investments: In 2018, the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation pledged $400 million (the largest gift ever received by Emory) to fund a new Winship Cancer Institute Tower on the campus of Emory University Hospital Midtown and a new Health Sciences Research Building on the main university campus. In 2019, the O. Wayne Rollins Foundation pledged $65 million toward construction of a third Rollins School of Public Health building on the Emory campus, to be named for R. Randall Rollins.
• Construction: Emory University Hospital is undergoing renovation of its lobby/guest services area and adding cafe space. Emory University Hospital Midtown recently renovated the 10th floor of the medical office tower to expand and centralize services for head and neck cancer and opened two new “hybrid” interventional cardiology suites, which can convert to ORs for patients needing open heart surgery. Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital is expanding its Winship Cancer Institute facility and constructing a hybrid OR/cath lab for heart procedures. Emory Johns Creek Hospital has state approval to add two floors and new beds and is constructing a new patient parking garage.
• System growth: Three DeKalb Medical hospitals became part of Emory Healthcare in September 2018 and were renamed Emory Decatur Hospital, Emory Hillandale Hospital, and Emory Long-Term Acute Care.
• Clinical trials: Emory currently has 21,188 participants enrolled in 2,005 clinical trials of investigational drugs, devices, and procedures, more trials than any other institution in the state.
• Technology transfer: Over the past 10 years, Emory has launched 24 products into the marketplace and helped create 51 start-up companies (28 in Georgia) in drug discovery, medical devices, diagnostics, and software. More than 90% of U.S. HIV/AIDS patients on lifesaving therapy take a drug discovered at Emory. In the same decade, Emory investigators have filed 1,615 patent applications in the U.S. and have been issued 284 patents in this country. The 52 patents Emory was granted in fiscal year 2018 addressed a range of technology types, therapeutics, vaccines, medical devices, and software, as well as different diseases, including cancer, infections, and orphan/rare conditions.
• Research dollars: The WHSC received $685.8 million in sponsored research funds in fiscal year 2018, bringing Emory’s total for the year to $734 million. These awards include re-funding from the NIH of the Georgia Clinical & Translational Science Alliance, funding from the Gates Foundation for continued support of the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance Network, support from the Marcus Foundation to support a stroke network, and dollars from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to study motor vehicle crashes in metro Atlanta.
• Physician workforce: Emory’s medical school provides more than half of the residency training positions in Georgia; 53 of the medical school’s 106 residency programs are the only such programs in the state. Such programs provide a critical recruiting base for Georgia’s physician workforce.
• Vaccine testing and development: The Emory Vaccine Center is one of the largest academic vaccine centers in the world, with scientists working on vaccines for influenza, Ebola, AIDS, malaria, hepatitis C, tuberculosis, and other diseases. Emory’s Hope Clinic, which conducts clinical trials for promising vaccines, is part of the country’s premier networks for vaccine and prevention trials for infectious diseases, including globally emerging diseases like Ebola, Zika, and Chikungunya.
• HIV/AIDS: Emory provides medical direction of Grady Health System’s Ponce de Leon Center, one of the largest, most comprehensive AIDS treatment centers in the country. Emory is also a primary site in the nation’s NIH-funded AIDS clinical trials network and has had a national NIH- designated Center for AIDS Research since 1998.
• Antibiotic resistance: The Emory Antibiotic Resistance Center facilitates interaction among a wide variety of experts to probe mechanisms of resistance, search for new antibiotics, and refine methods for detecting dangerous bacteria.
• Brain health: The Emory Brain Health Center integrates 400+ physicians and researchers bringing cutting-edge treatments for stroke, dementia, movement disorders, treatment-resistant depression, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress, and other disorders.
• Transplantation: The Emory Transplant Center is in the top 12 in overall adult volume among transplant centers across the nation. Emory researchers developed a new class of FDA-approved immunosuppressant drugs for kidney transplant patients that are less toxic than drugs previously available.
• Sports medicine: Emory Healthcare is the official team provider for several major area sports teams, the Atlanta Hawks, Braves, Falcons, and Dream as well as for local universities and more than 20 high school athletic associations.
• Investment in education: The WHSC invested 23.4% of its tuition income in fiscal year 2018 in student financial aid, an amount totaling $28.9 million.
• Charity care: Emory Healthcare provided $98 million in charity care in fiscal year 2018. The WHSC’s community contributions to support patient care, education, and research totaled more than $558 million in fiscal year 2018.
• Quality of care: Emory Healthcare is the only system in Georgia with three hospitals with Magnet designation, recognizing excellence in nursing care.
• Philanthropy: In fiscal year 2018, the WHSC was awarded $589.6 million in private support from individuals, foundations, and corporations representing alumni, patients and their families, and friends.