About Us
About Us
The Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence at Grady Health System collaborates with thousands of patients each year to treat their cancer fearlessly, using the latest technology and state-of-the-art techniques.
Since the Center opened in 2003, Grady has acquired the best diagnostic and treatment technology available, recruited some of the nation’s most talented physicians and built multidisciplinary teams of caregivers committed to a singular mission of providing the best care possible to everyone who walks through our doors.
As part of this commitment, we have modernized treatment rooms to ensure our patients have the best experience possible and participated in hundreds of clinical trials and other research projects to advance the science of cancer treatment. And we reinforce our commitment to the best and latest medical practices by creating collaborative caregiver teams comprised of cancer and other specialists from the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory, Emory and Morehouse schools of medicine and Grady.
As a result of our unique, inclusive approach to cancer care, in 2017 the Center was awarded a five-year, $2 million Merck Foundation grant. The award made us part of the new Alliance to Advance Patient-Centered Cancer Care, whose aim is to improve timely access to care and reduce disparities in care for vulnerable and underserved populations. Other Alliance members include Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, and the University of Arizona.
Every hospital’s mission is to care for patients. At Grady, we strive to care for them better, ensuring positive and safe interactions during every step of their cancer journey, from screening to survivorship. To do this, we treat all who come through our doors with respect, concern, and compassion.
The GCCE is consistently recognized by national organizations that set standards and monitor performance, including:
- Being named Georgia’s first Cancer Center for Excellence
- American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer Accreditation
- Accreditation by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers
- Accreditation by the American College of Radiology (ACR) for Computerized Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Nuclear Medicine and Ultrasound services
- Accreditation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration/Mammography Quality Standards
- Accreditation by the College of American Pathologists
Mission
The mission of the Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence at Grady is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer in Georgia through prevention and screening, treatment, research and education. In collaboration with key partners, we provide patient-focused services that emphasize access, customer service, cultural competence and the highest level of ethics and fiscal responsibility. Recognizing that research is the key to improving all phases of cancer services, we focus on research to improve patient outcomes, as well as basic scientific, clinical and population-based studies.
Facilities
Grady’s Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence was carefully designed with the patient in mind. Patients are treated in a warm, nurturing and comfortable setting that promotes healing and peace-of-mind. The soothing environment features:
- Exam rooms with natural lighting
- Private infusion areas with television and natural lighting
- Patient resource library with computer and internet access
- Healing garden
- Express elevator
Patients with breast concerns are seen by specially trained medical professionals at the Comprehensive Breast Center. The Breast Center offers breast screenings and treatment using the latest techniques, technology and research, in a modern, patient-focused setting. It also houses Grady’s diagnostic mammography imaging, which is staffed by radiologists who are exclusively dedicated to reading mammograms and are experts at image guided breast biopsies. We offer breast tomosynthesis (3D mammography) for screening and diagnostic studies.
Infusion therapy delivers medications through a needle or catheter. At Grady, we deliver chemotherapy drugs in our infusion center, as well as antibiotics, pain medications and other treatments you may need to fight your cancer. Surgery and radiation therapy remove, kill, or damage cancer cells in a certain area, but infusion therapy can work throughout the whole body. For example, chemotherapy can kill cancer cells that have spread (metastasized) to parts of the body far away from the original (primary) tumor. Other infusion therapies can deliver antibiotics to fight infection in the body or vitamins to boost the immune system. The Outpatient Infusion Center is staffed by certified registered nurses who specialize in cancer care.
Specialists at Grady’s Edward C. Loughlin Jr. Radiation Oncology Center use high-energy x-rays to fight cancer cells. They utilize the latest equipment to delivery highly accurate and conformal techniques with on board image guidance (IGRT, VMAT) as well as highly focused treatments for smaller tumors that maximize efficacy while minimizing side effects (stereotactic ablative brain and body radiotherapy). They also are skilled at brachytherapy, which precisely places radioactive pellets in the body to deliver a higher dose of radiation for a shorter period of time.
Grants and Partners
• American Cancer Society
• Avon Foundation for Women
• Georgia Breast Cancer and Cervical Program
• It’s the Journey
• McKesson Foundation
• Merck Foundation
• Susan G. Komen Greater Atlanta & Sisters of Promise
• The Daniel P. Amos Family Foundation
• The Eric R. Beverly Foundation