Walter Curran, MD
Executive Director, Emory Winship Cancer Institute
Associate Vice President, Cancer, Woodruff Health Sciences Center
Chair of Radiation Oncology
Chief Medical Officer, Emory Winship Cancer Institute
Walter J. Curran was appointed Executive Director of the Emory Winship Cancer
Institute in September, 2009. He joined Emory in January, 2008, as the Lawrence W.
Davis Chair of Radiation Oncology and Chief Medical Officer of the Emory Winship
Cancer Institute.
Prior to joining Emory, Dr. Curran was Chairman of Radiation Oncology at Thomas
Jefferson University. He currently serves as Group Chairman and Principal Investigator
of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), a National Cancer Institute-funded
cooperative group, a position he has held since 1997.
Dr. Curran, who is a Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar, has been a
principal investigator on several National Cancer Institute grants and is considered an
international expert in the management of patients with locally advanced lung cancer
and malignant brain tumors. He has led several landmark clinical and translational trials
in both areas and is responsible for defining a universally adopted staging system for
patients with malignant glioma. He has authored or co-authored more than four hundred
abstracts and scholarly papers, as well as numerous presentations, reviews and book
chapters. He has been chairman or co-chairman of more than 40 clinical trials and a
reviewer for twelve national/international journals. He serves as the Founding
Secretary/Treasurer of the Coalition of Cancer Cooperative Groups and a Board
Member of the Georgia Center for Oncology Research and Education (Ga CORE). Dr.
Curran is the only radiation oncologist to serve as Director of a National Cancer Institute
Designated Cancer Center.
Dr. Curran is a Fellow in the American College of Radiology and has been awarded
honorary memberships in the European Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology
and the Canadian Association of Radiation Oncology. In 2006, he was named the
leading radiation oncologist/cancer researcher in a peer survey by the journal Medical
Imaging. Under Dr. Curran’s leadership Emory’s Radiation Oncology Department has
been recently selected as a “Top Five Radiation Therapy Centers to Watch in 2009” by
Imaging Technology News. This review recognizes the most forward-thinking, U.S.based cancer treatment centers, which have adopted advanced technology to optimize
treatment and make a difference in patient care.
Dr. Curran graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College, received his MD degree from
the Medical College of Georgia and is a Board Certified Radiation Oncologist. Curran
completed his residency in the Department of Radiation Therapy at the University of
Pennsylvania Medical Center and his internship in internal medicine at Presbyterian
University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia.