Anyone who has been to Emory University Hospital Midtown lately has likely seen and heard signs of ongoing pervasive construction. "We're working to keep up with a surging patient population," says CEO Dan Owens. Over the past four years, inpatient admissions have increased by 7.0%, emergency department visits by 4.1%, and baby deliveries by 38%. In response, EUHM is adding 54 medical/surgical beds, 15 adult ICU beds, 12 mother/baby beds, and 12 neonatal ICU beds as well as expanding the emergency room, operating room space and observation area, women’s health services, and more.

The growth trend in patient and staff numbers will increase in coming months, says Owens. Half of a $400 million gift to Emory from the Woodruff Foundation, which was announced earlier this year, will be used to build a new state-of-the-art Winship Cancer Institute tower at EUHM, providing urgently needed infusion facilities, ORs, clinical examination rooms, spaces for rehabilitation, imaging technology, and clinical research capacity. This new facility is expected to bring 750 to 1,000 new physicians, nurses, and staff to the EUHM campus.

In addition, EUHM will soon be one of two primary hospitals for Kaiser Permanente patient members and physicians, along with Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital. Beginning October 23, 75-plus Kaiser patients per day are expected to be admitted to the Midtown facility, with some 275 Kaiser physicians coming to care for them. The additional patients mean hiring additional Emory employees.

With all this growth, Owens and other leaders are working to address the increasingly urgent need for more parking for patients and staff at EUHM.

According to Owens, the hospital owns one parking deck, the Summit Deck, which currently is used by patients, visitors, and employees. Over the years, he says, some employees have been assigned to park in that deck because of increasingly limited space in public lots or decks that the hospital leases. "We'd like to see the Summit Deck be dedicated once again to patients and visitors, as originally planned," he says.

The hospital's leadership team has drawn up plans to build a 3,000-space parking deck on its property at the corner of West Peachtree Street and Linden Avenue, solely for staff parking. "This deck will provide one location for staff to park, rather than the many surface lots and parking decks they currently use. We want to move traffic off Peachtree and Linden, and we believe the deck will help do that," says Owens. "With EUHM no longer needing to lease these flat lots, they could be made available for development.

"We are strongly committed to being a market leader in commute-alternative benefits, and we actively encourage employees and physicians to use public transit to get to work. But we are a 24-7 operation, and that option isn’t accessible for everyone," he adds.

The team is in the process of presenting its case for the employee deck before design review boards and committees within the City of Atlanta. The goal is to highlight why this parking structure is so important for employees, patients, and visitors at EUHM and how it can help improve traffic flow in an already busy metro area.—Janet Christenbury

Scott Boden, who has served as interim chair of Orthopaedics since February, has been named chair of the department.

Christine Dunham received the Young Investigator Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Burke Garrett recently joined the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program as executive adviser.

In October, Jonathan Glass will receive the Steve Ennis Hope Award from the Muscular Dystrophy Association for his work in ALS research.

Ashesh Jani will be named a fellow of the American Society for Radiation Oncology in October.

Omer Kucuk has been named the Correll Chair in Genitourinary Cancer. 

Vanessa Lee was one of 15 people appointed to the AAALAC International Ad Hoc Consultant Pool, which includes some 400 experts who assist AAALAC Council members with 300+ site visits per year worldwide.

Hui-Kuo Shu will be named a fellow of the American Society for Radiation Oncology in October.

Ram Subramanian was named a 2018 Best EMBA by EmoryBusiness.com

Doug Taylor was elected vice president of AALAS.