Health Sciences
Emory health scientists won $446.5 million in research funding awards during fiscal year 2009, an 15 percent increase over the previous year and 92 percent of the university total.
Projects are as diverse as the researchers' imaginations and expertise. Their goal is the same: "transforming health and healing."
Among the notable health science research discoveries here:
- Emory is a leader in HIV research. More than nine in 10 HIV patients in the United States who are on lifesaving therapy take Emtriva (emtricitabine) or 3TC, both drugs created at Emory. One of the leading vaccine candidates against HIV was developed at the Emory Vaccine Center and the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. The vaccine has been tested in preclinical and early stage clinical trials, and is currently in phase II clinical trials.
- Emory cardiologists helped develop lifesaving procedures such as angioplasty and drug-eluting stents, and newer technologies such as off-pump surgery.
- Key advancements against Parkinson's disease, including brain mapping, pallidotomy, and deep brain stimulation, were pioneered at Emory or based on Emory discoveries.
- The gene responsible for fragile X syndrome, the most common cause of inherited mental retardation, was discovered by Emory geneticists who are now working to develop drugs to treat the condition.
- An Emory neuroscientist discovered first in the laboratory, then in early-stage clinical trials, the beneficial effects of progesterone to treat traumatic brain injury. Emory currently is leading a large national NIH-supported clinical trial testing this therapy.
Emory's campus boasts 1.7 million square feet of scientific research space. Health sciences research, training and patient care are brought together within Emory's Woodruff Health Sciences Center. Its components include:
- School of Medicine
- Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
- Rollins School of Public Health
- Yerkes National Primate Research Center
- Emory Healthcare, the largest, most comprehensive health care system in Georgia
Emory's research partners include:
- Area universities, including the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Georgia and Morehouse School of Medicine
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
- Georgia Cancer Coalition
- Georgia Research Alliance
