Supporters contribute $1.17 billion to health sciences through Campaign Emory

Winship Cancer Institute surgeon Keith Delman's research is supported by a gift from Jim Kennedy, chair of Cox Enterprises, and his wife, Sarah. Their $4.7 million gift also funds Winship's survivorship program and research of young cancer investigators.

Emory's seven-year fundraising campaign may have ended with 2012, but it laid the groundwork for important work just getting started. The Woodruff Health Sciences Center raised a total of $1.17 billion during the campaign, part of the $1.69 billion raised overall at Emory during the most ambitious fundraising effort in the university's history and the largest undertaken in Georgia to date.

The campaign's success was due in part to the generosity of Emory's own employees, thousands of whom donated a total of $105 million to a host of initiatives and programs, nearly doubling the original goal for My Emory.

Donors invested in teaching, research, and patient care throughout the health sciences. Examples of what these funds will support include new chairs and professorships for faculty; seed grants to young investigators in cancer and at Yerkes; scholarships for students in public health, nursing, and medicine and for continuing education for nurses in Emory Healthcare; research support for Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cancer, vaccines, autism, pediatrics, and other areas; funds to improve maternal-infant health in Ethiopia and to expand global field experiences for students; and construction or renovation of facilities for patients, students, educators, and researchers. 

Maggi McKay

A new website launched this month (giving.emory.edu) details various gifts and how they will benefit units throughout the university, including Winship, Yerkes, Emory Healthcare, and the schools of medicine, nursing, and public health.

"This is a time to celebrate the campaign success in health sciences and particularly that we exceeded our goal," says Maggi McKay, VP for health sciences development. "But this campaign ultimately was less about numbers and more about the impact of gifts for our programs, building a culture of philanthropy, and generating excitement around Emory's priorities going forward."

"I would like to raise a virtual glass to toast Maggi and her colleagues in development, our campaign volunteer leaders, and most of all, our donors who have stepped forward to invest in what we do and who help make the Woodruff Health Sciences Center and Emory the extraordinary place that it is," says EVPHA Wright Caughman (see related article at right).

Emory CIN partners with Blue Cross Blue Shield

Over the past 15 months, Emory Healthcare has been working with clinicians—both Emory physicians and physicians in private practice—to build an infrastructure for a new clinically integrated network (CIN). The Emory CIN received its first major external endorsement this fall, when EHC signed a contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia to provide care to BCBS-covered patients. The contract is EHC's first foray into an arrangement with direct accountability for the value of care as assessed by defined quality metrics and overall cost.

"This was a major milestone for us," says Patrick Hammond, chief market services officer for EHC and executive director of the CIN. "BCBS is the largest payer in the state, and we are the first organization in Georgia they have partnered with and one of the first that WellPoint [Georgia's BCBS carrier] has partnered with nationally." He adds that the contract reflects BCBS's interest in enhancing value for its members and its confidence that the Emory CIN is positioned to do this.

What is a CIN, and why is it needed?

A CIN is a network of physicians and hospitals formed to improve care coordination among its members to improve quality outcomes and manage costs more efficiently.

Patrick Hammond
Rick Gitomer
Bill Bornstein

"We have achieved great innovations in health care in this country, but everyone recognizes that the cost curve is unsustainable," says Rick Gitomer, CIN president, chief quality officer, and director of medical services. "Our CIN will help us bend the cost curve downward while we continue to improve overall quality of care and thereby increase value."

"The CIN will help us integrate care among network members and apply the same quality principles throughout the network that have recently earned two of our hospitals top 10 rankings in the University HealthSystem Consortium Quality & Accountability Scorecard," adds Bill Bornstein, vice-chair of the CIN board and EHC chief quality and medical officer. "It expands our referral base in the region and aligns quality incentives with financial ones."

The Emory CIN currently includes Emory-owned and jointly owned hospitals, Southern Regional Medical Center, and some 2,250 physicians either employed by Emory or in private practice.

Gitomer explains that the EHC CIN will support providers' gradual transition from episodic, fee-for-service care to patient-centered management of populations, with increased focus on care coordination, prevention, and proactive versus reactive care. Patients who stay healthier and whose conditions remain stable are not only better off, but they also consume fewer expensive health care resources. The CIN provides a means for EHC to recoup savings in unspent resources to invest in tools to further enhance value as well as support Emory's missions in care, teaching, and research.

The CIN will rely on electronic connections to integrate care throughout the network. All CIN members are required to implement an electronic medical record (EMR) if they don't have one already, and the various EMRs will be linked to EHC's new health information exchange, which will allow all CIN EMRs to exchange the clinical information needed to coordinate care and facilitate collection of quality data to support continuous improvement activities.

"The fact that our Office of Quality has been involved in leading the CIN from the beginning is crucial to its success," says John Fox, EHC president and CEO. "These are the people who are helping envision how this model will work not just locally but for the nation as a whole. Emory Healthcare intends to lead the way forward in the Atlanta market and nationally by building this integrated network to provide geographic coverage throughout the region as a platform for increasing value and reducing the rate of growth in cost."

Hamby named to new leadership roles across health sciences

Heather Hamby

Heather Hamby has been named associate VP for health center integration for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center as well as executive associate dean and chief operating officer for the School of Medicine. These appointments will be effective Feb. 1. She will report to Chris Larsen in his roles as dean of the medical school, VP for health center integration, and chair of the board of directors of The Emory Clinic.

Hamby will play a pivotal role in developing and executing strategic initiatives and working to integrate and optimize performance of programs and missions across the medical school, Emory Healthcare, and WHSC.

She will partner closely with School of Medicine and Emory Healthcare leaders, including Barbara Schroeder, executive associate dean (EAD) for fiscal affairs and chief financial officer for the medical school; Bill Eley, EAD for medical education and student affairs; Josh Barwick, associate dean for administration; Ray Dingledine, EAD for research; William Casarella, EAD for clinical affairs at Grady Health System; and Doug Morris, EAD for clinical affairs and Emory Clinic CEO and director.

Hamby's responsibilities include the following:

• Oversight of fiscal and operational activities of WHSC centers, working closely with center directors and associated administrators.

• Management of business, operational, fiscal, and administrative activities related to the School of Medicine's affiliation and contract with Grady Health System, including oversight of the Emory Medical Care Foundation in coordination with the EAD for clinical affairs at Grady.

• Working with the EAD for research to direct the school's research administration activities, including implementation of the university's business process-improvement initiatives.

• Oversight of the medical school's human resource administration for staff-related matters, working closely with university and Emory Healthcare HR leaders.

• Working closely with department, Emory Healthcare, and medical school leadership to align and develop programs and strategic initiatives across the academic health center.

Hamby currently serves as vice chair of administration and executive administrator for the Department of Medicine. She previously served as executive administrator for the Department of Surgery and for the Emory Transplant Center.

WLA begins 11th year

The 2013 class of the Woodruff Leadership Academy. View a larger version of this photo.

A diverse group of 20 new fellows of the Woodruff Leadership Academy (WLA) embarked this month on a semester-long program designed to give emerging leaders from across the health sciences the skills and insight needed to strengthen their leadership potential.

WLA is a finely honed but ever-evolving program of monthly seminar sessions and leadership exercises that mixes nurses, researchers, physicians, administrators, and educators from medicine, nursing, public health, Yerkes, Winship, and Emory Healthcare. Participants get a crash course on the Woodruff Health Sciences Center—its namesake, history, mission, finances, and inner workings—and hear stories, anecdotes, and life lessons from a variety of leaders within and outside Emory.

In addition to attending monthly sessions as a group, fellows are divided into four multidisciplinary teams, each of which meets on its own throughout the course to tackle a project related to WHSC goals and needs.

Now in its 11th year, WLA has a total of 234 alumni. For names, photos, and titles of the WLA class of 2013, please see website.

WHSC exceeds campaign goals thanks to extraordinary group effort

Wright Caughman

When Emory announced its intention to launch a $1.6 billion fundraising campaign seven years ago, we knew we were setting a pretty audacious goal—the largest, in fact, in our history. We also had every confidence that we could achieve it. And now we have (see story at left). The Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC) was tasked with raising $1.07 billion, and I'm enormously proud to say that, at campaign's close, we have surpassed that goal by an impressive margin.

We are fortunate to have a superb Development team, who did an extraordinary job, especially considering the state of the economy for much of the campaign period! These talented and dedicated folks, including faculty volunteers, are all deserving of our sincere gratitude and congratulations.

Of course, they are the first to say that our success is also due to our deans, directors, faculty, and staff across the WHSC, who served as true partners with our Development office to inspire donors to invest in Emory.  Our WHSC family not only secured significant commitments, but also helped promote the campaign—many through My Emory, the highly successful employee giving campaign. Some of our staunchest long-term supporters again showed their faith in us by bolstering our campaign. And a host of determined volunteers who share our commitment to serving humanity by improving health made a significant impact, including the stellar campaign chairs of our WHSC units.

As you can imagine, the list of people who made our successful campaign possible is extensive, and these are just a few to whom we are especially grateful.

I hope you all are proud to know that our success was made possible by the talent, intellect, creativity, curiosity, collaboration, and compassion demonstrated every day by every member of the WHSC family. All of us, working together, create amazing stories of hope and inspiration for the people we serve, and it's these stories that make people proud to invest in our mission. Thanks to you all not only for what you have done to make this campaign successful, but for all that you do to advance our lifesaving and life-affirming work.

Please direct questions and comments to evphafeedback@emory.edu.

In Brief

First triple transplant in Georgia performed at EUH

Stephanie Lindstrom

Stephanie Lindstrom, a 38-year-old mother of two from South Carolina, received a triple organ transplant at Emory University Hospital, the first triple transplant to be performed in Georgia. "A double transplant involving the heart and liver is extremely rare, with fewer than 60 of them ever performed in the United States," says Stuart Knechtle, director of the Adult Liver Transplantation Program. "Because of Stephanie's heart failure, she developed liver failure. Then she became septic, which led to kidney failure. So a triple organ transplant was our only hope to save her."

First Brian Kogon, surgical director of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program, transplanted her new heart, assisted by David Vega, director of Emory's Heart Transplant Program. Then Knechtle and transplant surgeon Andrew Adams transplanted the liver. The following day, Knechtle transplanted her kidney. All three organs came from the same donor. Lindstrom spent the next three months at Emory University Hospital recovering, while battling complications. She was finally able to go home this past October, five months after she was admitted. Read more.

ACTSI announces data use agreement between Emory and partners

To increase the speed of clinical and translational research in Atlanta and beyond, the partner institutions of the Atlanta Clinical & Translational Science Institute (ACTSI) recently agreed to exchange de-identified health information. The organizations are Emory, Morehouse School of Medicine, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia by and on behalf of Georgia Tech.

The data to be shared will include health information generated by each ACTSI institution as a part of its research or clinical operations that is de-identified or part of a limited data set. The data shared may be used for research purposes only, and appropriate Institutional Review Board review and approval must be obtained prior to release of the data for any research involving human subjects. Read more.

Emory Healthcare has new/pending partnerships

Alliance HealthCare Services, a national provider of outpatient diagnostic imaging and radiation therapy services, has established a new diagnostic imaging center with Emory Healthcare (EHC). Located in Buford, the facility will serve the patient and physician populations of Emory University Hospital Midtown and Emory Johns Creek Hospital. Read more.

EHC also has a pending agreement with another company, Select Medical, to form a joint venture in providing post-acute care in Georgia. Their signed letter of intent, subject to each party's approval processes, is a key step to coordinated care for patients in need of long-term acute care, inpatient rehabilitation, outpatient physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy at Wesley Woods Geriatric Hospital and the Center for Rehabilitation Medicine. Read more.

Rollins' Career MPH program ranked No. 1

Rollins' Career MPH program, led by Melissa Alperin, was ranked No. 1 among the top 20 online US MPH programs by TheBestSchools.org, an independent organization that ranks colleges and degree programs in various categories.

Appointments

Melissa Faulkner

Melissa Faulkner is associate dean for educational innovation in the nursing school, effective Feb. 1. In this new position, Faulkner will oversee and implement educational initiatives across the school's undergraduate and graduate programs. She comes to Emory from the University of Arizona. Read more.

Deena Gilland

Deena Gilland, formerly director of nursing at Winship, was named acting VP and chief nursing officer of Emory Ambulatory Patient Care Operations.

Michelle Mott

Michelle Mott, formerly associate chief nursing officer of The Emory Clinic, was named assistant director of nursing informatics for Emory Physician Practices (The Emory Clinic and Emory Specialty Associates).

Martin Sanda

Martin Sanda was named the chair of urology in the medical school. He will also serve as director of the Prostate Cancer Center, which will be established at Winship. He joins Emory Feb. 28 from Harvard Medical School, where he is professor of surgery in urology. Read more.

The following faculty members in health sciences recently received awards: View details.

• Gary Bassell
• Bill Bornstein
• Xiaodong Cheng
• Jaffar Khan
• Rey Martorell
• Shuming Nie
• Barbara Rothbaum
• Raymond Schinazi
• Stephen Traynelis
• Larry Young

Events

Feb. 5: Stephen Warren, chair of human genetics, presents the 18th Annual Distinguished Faculty Lecture, Fragile X Syndrome: Completing the Circle from Basic Science to Therapeutic Intervention, 4 p.m., Winship Ballroom, DUC.

Feb. 7: Academic & Industry Intersection Conference: Innovative Research Collaborations in Times of Uncertain Funding, held by ACTSI and Georgia Bio, Emory Conference Center. More info.

Feb. 11: University Senate presents Jeff Denneen on The Law of More: Unmanaged Cost Growth in Universities, 4 p.m., Winship Ballroom, DUC. More info.

Feb. 19: David Satcher presents the 4th annual Arthur Kellermann Health Policy Lecture, The Role of Health Policy in the Quest for Health Equity, 11 a.m., SOM education building, room 110.

Feb 19: Health Innovation Symposium V presents Robert Dittus on New Paradigms of Health Services Research, 4:30, SOM education building auditorium. More info.

Feb. 20: Wright Caughman presents the State of the WHSC Address, WHSCAB auditorium, 4:30 p.m., reception to follow. Simulcast to EUHM and EUOSH.

Feb. 21-22: Biomedical Innovation and Development Conference 2013, for inventors, clinicians, and entrepreneurs. Georgia Tech. More info.

Feb. 21-22: 2013 Southeastern Critical Care Summit, Emory Conference Center. More info.

March 5: University Senate presents Sandy Baum on Financial Aid: Moral Imperative, Competitive Tool, or Unsustainable Burden, 4 p.m., Jones Room, Woodruff Library. Read more.