Director's Update
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Dear Friends:
This spring, we expect to reach another major milestone at Winship Cancer Institute as we await our first competitive National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant renewal. Last fall, an NCI team made a site visit and reviewed the progress we’ve made since our designation as an NCI Cancer Center in 2009.
The results are gratifying. The NCI team rated our facilities, organization capabilities, interdisciplinary collaboration, cancer focus, institutional commitment, and center director all as exceptional,excellent, or outstanding. The team also rated our application outstanding and recommended renewing NCI support for the next five years.
What will this mean for Winship and our patients? With a renewed five-year commitment, we will be able to build on the rapid progress we have made since becoming Georgia’s only NCI-designated cancer center. In just three years, we have increased our NCI and overall funding, expanded collaborative studies, made significant scientific achievements, and translated Winship-initiated research ideas from the lab to the clinic.
Government grant support is only part of our funding picture. We rely on private philanthropy to fund promising new research and to provide essential services, such as the Winship Survivorship Program, which promotes hope and healing for cancer patients and their families.
In this edition of The Winship Donor, you’ll find inspiring stories about how private supporters are funding innovative research and talented investigators and memorializing loved ones in meaningful ways. If you’re a contributor to our annual fund, be sure to read the story on page 5 about how your gifts are being used to drive the discovery of new cancer drugs at Winship.
We deeply appreciate your gifts, which are essential to our efforts to reduce the suffering from cancer, save lives, and, ultimately, find cures. Your loyal support has been a significant factor in our NCI designation and the anticipated renewal.
Sincerely,
Walter J. Curran, Jr., MD
Executive Director, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
