About Us


Our Mission

To develop clinical practice-changing treatments that are effective, affordable and non-toxic. We do this by adopting financial orphans (i.e., pursuing clinical development of scientifically promising ideas that are lying fallow due to lack of financial incentive).

Our Plan

With an initial focus on cancer, and through multi-disciplinary efforts, we will:

  • Identify and prioritize promising financial orphan interventions
  • Design clinical studies, identify investigators, fund (and/or help find resources to implement) studies ready for human testing
  • Fund critical pre-clinical experiments, for ideas not yet ready for clinical studies
  • Develop novel study designs to enhance rapidity of data gathering, optimize cost effectiveness and reflect real-world circumstances
  • Publish data that influences treatment guidelines and reimbursement
  • Engage in advocacy and education efforts around these untapped opportunities regionally, nationally and globally

Our Values

A laser-sharp focus on patient benefit and safety & openness of mind to evaluate any financial orphan ideas — however unusual — that have the potential to help patients.

Our Donors

The Morningside Center is supported by the generosity of the Woodruff Foundation, Inc. and the Morningside Foundation. The Morningside Center for Innovative and Affordable Medicine is part of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University, an interdisciplinary unit of core staff that brings together the expertise of faculty from across Emory. Our center is an extension of the vision of GlobalCures Inc., a non-profit medical research organization that promotes research, education and advocacy for repurposed drug research.

“Medical innovation is typically driven by potential profit. The Morningside Foundation’s investment in Emory will help reverse this trend to benefit patients here and abroad.”

Claire E. Sterk, Past President of Emory University

The Morningside Foundation

The Morningside Foundation is the charitable foundation of the Chan family with the mission of supporting science and enabling education. In 2019, the Morningside Foundation made a gift to Emory University to establish The Morningside Center for Innovative and Affordable Medicine.

The Woodruff Foundation, Inc

The Robert W. Woodruff Foundation is an independent private foundation that seeks to improve the quality of life in Georgia by investing in health, education, economic opportunity and community vitality. It has awarded more than $3.4 billion in grants since inception.