A lifetime of work to stop cancer

For more than 65 years, Emory Winship Cancer Institute has worked tirelessly to prevent, treat and cure cancer.

When it opened in the 1930s, Winship was the first center providing advanced care for cancer patients in the Southeast. Today, Winship is among the nation's leaders in seeking out new ways to defeat cancer. Winship envisions a future when science triumphs over cancer, and throughout our history, we have stopped at nothing in our efforts to achieve that goal as soon as possible. 

Important milestones:

1937: The Robert Winship Memorial Clinic is founded at Emory University with a gift from Robert Woodruff. Woodruff, the president of Coca-Cola, had lost his mother to cancer that year. The Clinic is named in honor of Mr. Woodruff's maternal grandfather, Robert Winship.

1938: Dr. Elliott Scarborough begins his tenure as the clinic's first doctor and director. The clinic opens in a sun porch at the end of the east wing of Emory Hospital, adjacent to the emergency department. It has four people on staff.

1939: In its first year, the clinic treats 168 patients.

1949: Dr. Scarborough is named to the National Advisory Cancer Council, a group of experts who advise federal agencies on policy issues, now known as the National Advisory Cancer Board.

1951: Experts refer to Winship Cancer Clinic as "one of the best in the nation."  

1954: Dr. Scarborough publicly declares he is convinced that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer. This statement comes at one of his many public appearances, intended to educate the public about cancer prevention and treatment.

1955: Dr. Scarborough is appointed to the board of directors of the American Cancer Society.

1964: The number of patients treated has risen to nearly 15,000 per year.

1966: Dr. Scarborough dies of pancreatic cancer. He is posthumously awarded the 1967 Shining Light Award for his service to the Atlanta community.

1966: The Winship Cancer Clinic relocates into the Emory Clinic.

1985: The Clinic is renamed the Winship Cancer Center and becomes more integrated into Emory University Hospital. It also begins coordinating cancer research and treatment for Emory, Crawford Long and Grady hospitals and the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

1999: Dr. Jonathon W. Simons, a highly acclaimed physician-scientist who specializes in translational research, is named the Center's new director. The Center changes its name to Winship Cancer Institute.

2002: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) approves Winship's grant to pursue designation as a comprehensive cancer care center.

2003: The Institute opens a new, 280,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility. Its new home houses all original departments plus additional research and high-tech treatment facilities.

2004: The Institute, in collaboration with Georgia Tech, receives a $10 million NIH grant to study how nanotechnology -- the use of microscopic machines -- can help fight prostate cancer.