Emory wins national ‘Cancer Center’ status

After more than two decades of trying, Emory University will announce April 13 that it has won designation as a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Center, Atlanta Business Chronicle has learned.

The Emory Winship Cancer Institute is the first in Georgia to get the gold-plated certification, which will open the spigot to millions of dollars in research funding and lure high-profile clinical trials and talent to the state.

Georgia has lagged behind many other Southeastern states by not having a designated cancer center. With the announcement, Emory joins an elite group of about 25 NCI national cancer centers nationwide. Several Southern states, including Alabama, Florida and South Carolina, have NCI cancer centers.

“We have joined a new fraternity,” a source said. “It is not simply a status symbol. It is being in the network with some of the most promising and cutting-edge clinical trials in the country.”

The NCI designation is akin to the Good Housekeeping seal of approval, said Anita Harrison, associate director of administration at the Medical University of South Carolina’s Hollings Cancer Center. The Charleston-based university won NCI cancer center status earlier this month. The designation “says this university has ... made cancer a priority and has made great strides in cancer research,” Harrison noted.

As an NCI cancer center, Winship can expect at least $1 million in additional federal research funding in the first year and more than $6 million by the third year, said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society and an Emory professor.

Emory would also be eligible for a larger pool of funding from federal and private sources, such as the American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Department of Defense, said Brawley, former Winship deputy director. The cancer center designation will make Winship a talent magnet, too — attracting top researchers and oncologists.

“There are fellows-in-training who generally will only go to NCI centers to be trained,” Brawley said. “There are some doctors who will only go work at an NCI-designated Cancer Center.” Winship unsuccessfully applied for the designation in the mid-1990s.

It failed because the NCI did not feel the cancer center had enough basic science research capability at the time. Winship has since invested in expanding the research program, both in scope and manpower.

The NCI questioned Emory’s commitment for a cancer center because it did not have a stand-alone cancer facility, Brawley said. The agency noted that Emory’s leadership, at the time, did not fully support the need for a NCI Cancer Center designation, he said.

Since then, Emory has invested millions of dollars in the Winship Institute. The Georgia cancer community has long rallied for an NCI Cancer Center in the state with Emory University’s efforts dating back two decades. Ever since the Georgia Cancer Coalition was established in 2001, the state and Emory university leaders have stepped up their efforts in pursuing certification. Not having such a center has been “our most serious infrastructure defect,” Georgia Cancer Coalition President and CEO William Todd has noted in the past. “Georgia is the largest state in the nation, and Atlanta is the largest city in the nation, without a designated Cancer Center,” Todd has said repeatedly in speeches.

It’s ironic that while the American Cancer Society and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are based in Atlanta, Georgia has been a laggard state, he has said. “Our aspiration is to move from a laggard state to a leading state.”