Scientific Environment:

The Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University has a strong multi-disciplinary team of oncologists, thoracic surgeons, radiation oncologists, interventional pulmonologists and pathologists dedicated to the treatment and research of lung cancer.

Facilities:

Winship Building C:

Winship is headquartered in a seven-story 250,000 square foot building (Building C) housing the primary offices and clinical space for cancer services including the Winship Ambulatory Infusion Center, the department of radiation oncology primary clinical facility, and the medical oncology, hematology, and surgical oncology clinics. Breast imaging and radiology, including MRI, PET, and CT facilities, are also located in this building. Building C houses the Winship administrative suite, three floors of wet lab space, faculty offices, and is the primary location of the Winship Clinical Trials Office (CTO). Also located on the Winship main campus is the Patient and Family Resource Center, staffed with dedicated providers for supportive oncology, survivorship, social services, nutrition, and spiritual counseling.

Winship Clinical Trials Office (CTO):

The CTO is managed by Winship and partially supported by its Cancer Center Support Grant (P30CA138292). 

Staffed by highly-trained professional research personnel specializing in areas of clinical coordination, data management, specimen processing and regulatory management, Winship CTO provides a supportive environment to conduct clinical trials in a cost-effective and efficient manner while ensuring compliance with Winship clinical trials standard operating procedures, Good Clinical Practice (GCP), Emory University Institutional Review Board (IRB), US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), other regulatory agencies and external sponsors. Winship CTO supports clinical research at other Emory University Hospital sites, including Emory University Hospital Midtown, Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Emory Johns Creek Hospital, and the Emory Proton Therapy Center. Additionally, support is provided at other area facilities where Emory investigators conduct clinical trials, including the Atlanta VA Medical Center and Grady Memorial Hospital. 

See https://winshipcancer.emory.edu/research/clinical-trials-office/index.html

The Winship CTO has developed policies and procedures to facilitate centralized management of clinical studies across all departments in which subjects may be enrolled on cancer clinical trials. CTO staff monitors study procedures to ensure regulatory compliance and provides regular instruction to new and current staff in these areas. Training of clinical research coordinators across all of Winship is assisted and supervised by the CTO Director and leadership staff. Winship CTO provides support for 12 different disease-specific research working, each fully staffed with a team of research coordinators and nurses. The CTO currently employs over 128 individuals.

Ambulatory Infusion Center and the Phase I Clinical Trials Unit:

Infusion centers are located at Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University Hospital Midtown, Emory Saint Joseph's Hospital and Emory Johns Creek Hospital. These facilities provide referring physicians and their patients access to a full range of outpatient infusion and injection services.

Phase I Unit:

The Winship Phase I Unit, located on the fourth floor of the Emory University Hospital Tower, recently expanded in 2018 and tripled the size of the old unit, originally opened in 2009. The current unit is designed to be both patient-focused and able to support the painstaking demands of rigorous clinical research. It features 15 private treatment bays, four clinic rooms, plus many key support resources, including a dedicated lab for processing patient blood work, a dedicated secure medication room and a "fast track" bay with three chairs for rapid use by patients who might only require a short visit such as a research lab draw. The design of the space was guided by a multi-disciplinary team of patients, nurses, physicians, and research staff. It can also be used for obtaining PK and PD samples. During phase 1 trials, correlative science blood, tissue, and tumor samples (pharmacogenomic, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamic markers) are obtained in the Phase I Unit and processed, stored, and shipped from the Phase I Unit laboratory.

Additional Space on Emory’s main campus:

Winship space is divided between Emory Clinic A and B Buildings, Tufts House, Gatewood House, the Health Sciences Research Building, and the North Decatur Building. Emory Clinic Building B houses animal facilities, research laboratories, faculty offices, the Emory Ambulatory Surgery Center, urology, neuro-oncology, neurological surgery, and additional facilities for the Winship CTO. Additional administrative offices, supportive oncology services, and conference rooms are located in the Tufts House, immediately adjacent to the Winship Building C. The Health Sciences Research Building (HSRB), a 200,000 gsf research building on Emory’s campus, opened for occupancy in June 2013. Winship was committed 13,000 gsf of total research space under its authority in this building.

Laboratory:

In total, Winship has over 480,000 sq. ft. of dedicated space for basic, translational, and clinical cancer research space with the inclusion of The Emory Clinic Building C, the Health Sciences Research Building, and other areas, including space in Buildings A and B of The Emory Clinic, Emory University Hospital Midtown, Grady Memorial Hospital, and the Atlanta VA Medical Center. Medical, surgical and radiation oncology outpatient services, ambulatory clinical services, and many research services have been consolidated into a single building, Emory Clinic C, which contains over 250,000 sq. ft. of devoted research and clinical space. 

Research laboratories are located on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors on both Clinic Buildings B and C, and in the Health Sciences Research Building. All laboratories are equipped with various basic instruments including separate tissue culture rooms with laminar flow hoods, type-II biosafety cabinets, and CO2 regulated incubators. Winship has shared cryogenic storage facility, wash room, microscopy room, dark room, and walk-in cold room, which are adjacent to the wet space and are easily accessible.

Animal:

Cancer Animal Models is a shared resource managed and supported by Winship Cancer Institute. The function of the Cancer Animal Models Shared Resource is to assist investigators in the development, characterization and analysis of appropriate animal models for cancer research. It assists investigators in developing and analyzing appropriate animal models for cancer research, and as such it plays an important role in translating research discoveries into potential treatments.  Currently, the major emphasis and expertise of the facility lies in genetically engineered mouse models. 

See https://winshipcancer.emory.edu/research/shared-resources/cancer-animal-models.html

Clinical:

Clinical activities of the Winship Cancer Institute occur within Winship itself, the Emory University campus, Emory Midtown Hospital campus, Emory Johns Creek, Emory St. Joseph’ Grady Health System campus, and Veterans Administration Hospital. The Winship building adds 68,035 sq. ft. of lab space, plus additional oncology support services for a total of 108,000 sq. ft. of clinical space. Clinical care is located in the tunnel and floors 1 and 2, while research occurs on floors 3, 4, and 5. A Phase I clinical trial unit was established specifically for Phase I trials and is currently in operation. The building is directly across from the Emory-Children’s Hospital and the Emory Children’s Clinic.