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As a dynamic destination for education, a robust research institution, and the largest, most comprehensive health care provider in the state, the Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC) impacts Georgia in a variety of significant ways.
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It helps make Emory University the largest employer in DeKalb County, one of the four largest private employers in the 10-county metro Atlanta area, and the fifth largest employer of Georgians in the state.
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With $1.98 billion in operating expenses, the WHSC's annual economic impact on metro Atlanta is estimated at $4.4 billion.
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Current construction in the WHSC includes a 172,000-square-foot medical school building and a four-story joint-venture hospital off campus, both scheduled to open in 2007. Construction planned for the coming decade includes a $1.2 billion project to replace the current hospital and clinic on campus.
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The WHSC attracted $326 million in sponsored research funding last year. Major grants included $20 million from the National Cancer Institute to create the Emory-Georgia Tech Nanotechnology Center for Personalized and Predictive Oncology (one of seven such centers in the country); $7.4 million from the National Institute on Aging to designate Emory as an Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (one of 32 in the nation); and almost $9 million from the NIH to establish Emory as one of nine centers nationwide to screen huge libraries of molecular compounds for their potential as new drugs and probes for cancer and other diseases.
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Emory is a member of the Georgia Research Alliance (GRA), a partnership of business, research universities, and state government that fosters economic development in the state. Through the GRA, the state invests in research in the WHSC in molecular screening for new drugs, nanotechnology, vaccines, genomics, biomedical and tissue engineering, cancer, imaging, and neuroscience.
The WHSC is a major player in technology transfer, with seven licensed therapeutic products currently in the marketplace in addition to 24 in various stages of drug discovery, clinical development, or regulatory approval. Emory has launched 35 start-up companies over the past decade, some of which were spawned by EmTech Bio, a biotech incubator developed with Georgia Institute of Technology. EmTech Bio houses start-up companies developing products ranging from AIDS vaccines and drugs for treating pulmonary disease to hair-replacement technology.
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The Winship Cancer Institute is a key participant in the Georgia Cancer Coalition, a statewide program working to make the latest advances in cancer care available to all Georgians and investing in cancer research at Emory. Winship leads the Georgia Center for Health Equality, a coalition of hospitals and universities dedicated to training minorities in health-related areas and to counteracting disparities in care.
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The WHSC is the lead partner in the Southeastern Center for Emerging Biologic Threats (SECEBT), a regional consortium of academic health centers, state health departments, and government agencies addressing natural and human-caused biologic threats, such as West Nile virus and pandemic flu.
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The Emory Vaccine Center is one of the largest academic vaccine centers in the world, with scientists working to develop vaccines for HIV/AIDS, malaria, hepatitis C, avian flu, and other infectious diseases. Emory's Hope Clinic conducts clinical trials for promising vaccines and therapeutics.
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WHSC's physicians provide more than $66 million annually in charity care through Emory Healthcare and more than $20 million in uncompensated care at Grady Memorial Hospital. Through the Emory Children's Center and Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital, Emory also is the preeminent provider of specialty care to indigent children in Georgia. Nursing faculty and students support major volunteer efforts for homeless Atlantans, migrant workers in Georgia, and people with AIDS. Public health faculty and students influence health policy affecting the community's most economically vulnerable, and they partner with the State Division of Public Health to train workers in dealing with infectious diseases and to help prevent cancer, HIV infection, and adolescent pregnancy.
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