The Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University (Winship) is the only NCI-designated cancer center in Georgia, which is now the eighth most populous state and has the largest land area among states east of the Mississippi River. As the main tertiary cancer care and cancer research institution in the state, Winship has committed its four research programs as supported by its six shared resources to address the specific challenges associated with the cancer burden in Georgia. These challenges include: high tobacco usage and incidence of tobacco- related cancers; high proportion of cancer patients who are African American or black and/or have significant cancer disparity issues in their care, prognosis, and/or outcome; and low health literacy levels. Winship's mission is to lessen the burden of cancer for the citizens of Georgia, its primary catchment area. This will be accomplished by: (1) seeking greater insights into the molecular, genetic, and epigenetic basis of cancer; (2) discovering new knowledge that drives improvements in cancer detection, prevention, and/or therapy; (3) developing or defining novel therapeutic targets and/or agents as a pathway to better cancer therapies; and (4) studying and implementing population-based strategies to lessen the cancer burden in the state. The 164 Winship core members are actively engaged in one of four Winship research programs, all of which have a strong emphasis on transdisciplinary research: Cancer Cell Biology, Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics, Cancer Prevention and Control, and Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics. Winship's members are supported by six shared resources: Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Shared Resource, Cancer Animal Models Shared Resource, Cancer Tissue and Pathology Shared Resource, Emory Integrated Genomics Shared Resource, Emory Integrated Proteomics Shared Resource, and the Integrated Imaging Shared Resource; and two developing shared resources: Winship Research Informatics and Intervention Development, Dissemination, and Implementation Developing Shared Resources. Winship members are currently supported by $84.8M in total research funding (as of 3/31/2016) awarded via Emory University. Winship members Curran and Bruner serve as PIs on two NCI awards to the NRG Oncology Foundation for a total of $25.6M in support of clinical research infrastructure. Patient enrollment in Winship's interventional and non-interventional trials continues to increase, especially among patients from under-represented minority groups, and these activities have contributed to the FDA- approval of several novel anti-cancer agents during the present funding period. Winship has outstanding institutional commitment, with more than $200 million in institutional support committed over the next five years, a level almost twice that committed in 2011. Winship enjoys the same reporting line and organizational position as Emory's schools of medicine, public health, and nursing. Winship is uniquely positioned to apply its scientific strengths, outstanding membership, robust infrastructure, strong institutional support, and comprehensive training programs to fulfill its mission of lessening the burden of cancer on the state of Georgia and beyond.

Public Health Relevance

As the first and only NCI-designated cancer center in Georgia, the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University (Winship) serves the state as its primary tertiary cancer care provider and its primary institution for cancer research, training, and education. Winship is an integral part of Emory University, coordinating the cancer specific research capabilities of the Emory University School of Medicine, Rollins School of Public Health, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Emory College, and Emory Healthcare. Winship maintains direct responsibility to coordinate the clinical care provided to cancer patients and to oversee and coordinate the quality and multi- and trans-disciplinary nature of care with all relevant units to accomplish its mission to lessen the burden of cancer by aligning discovery and education with cancer prevention and cancer care.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Center Core Grants (P30)
Project #
5P30CA138292-11
Application #
9685120
Study Section
Subcommittee I - Transistion to Independence (NCI)
Program Officer
He, Min
Project Start
2009-04-07
Project End
2022-03-31
Budget Start
2019-04-01
Budget End
2020-03-31
Support Year
11
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Emory University
Department
Radiation-Diagnostic/Oncology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
066469933
City
Atlanta
State
GA
Country
United States
Zip Code
30322
Halicek, Martin; Little, James V; Wang, Xu et al. (2018) Optical Biopsy of Head and Neck Cancer Using Hyperspectral Imaging and Convolutional Neural Networks. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng 10469:
Zhong, Jim; Switchenko, Jeffrey; Behera, Madhusmita et al. (2018) Chemotherapy with or Without Definitive Radiation Therapy in Inoperable Pancreatic Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol 25:1026-1033
Xiao, Canhua; Beitler, Jonathan J; Higgins, Kristin A et al. (2018) Associations among human papillomavirus, inflammation, and fatigue in patients with head and neck cancer. Cancer 124:3163-3170
Ferris, Matthew J; Zhong, Jim; Switchenko, Jeffrey M et al. (2018) Brainstem dose is associated with patient-reported acute fatigue in head and neck cancer radiation therapy. Radiother Oncol 126:100-106
Barwick, Benjamin G; Scharer, Christopher D; Martinez, Ryan J et al. (2018) B cell activation and plasma cell differentiation are inhibited by de novo DNA methylation. Nat Commun 9:1900
Danish, Hasan; Ferris, Matthew J; Balagamwala, Ehsan et al. (2018) Comparative outcomes and toxicities for ruthenium-106 versus palladium-103 in the treatment of choroidal melanoma. Melanoma Res 28:120-125
Kennedy, E M; Powell, D R; Li, Z et al. (2018) Galactic Cosmic Radiation Induces Persistent Epigenome Alterations Relevant to Human Lung Cancer. Sci Rep 8:6709
Liu, Fakeng; Liu, Yuan; Liu, Xiuju et al. (2018) Inhibition of IGF1R enhances 2-deoxyglucose in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Lung Cancer 123:36-43
Cassidy, Richard J; Zhang, Xinyan; Switchenko, Jeffrey M et al. (2018) Health care disparities among octogenarians and nonagenarians with stage III lung cancer. Cancer 124:775-784
Xiao, Canhua; Beitler, Jonathan J; Higgins, Kristin A et al. (2018) Differential regulation of NF-kB and IRF target genes as they relate to fatigue in patients with head and neck cancer. Brain Behav Immun 74:291-295

Showing the most recent 10 out of 331 publications