Emory surgical oncologists provide multi-modality evaluation and surgical treatment as part of the Winship Cancer Institute, Emory's cross-disciplinary cancer treatment, prevention and research center that is currently working towards becoming Georgia's first NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center. Winship emphasizes applying the latest research as quickly and responsibly as possible to patient care, giving division surgeons the opportunity to offer ground-breaking treatment to their patients due to their involvement in progressive bench and clinical research.

Developing novel approaches for cancer gene therapy is one of the division's several basic science research pursuits, while its recent clinical research initiatives have included the compilation of new multi-disciplinary databases tracking patient outcomes in both pancreatic and liver cancer.

The surgical oncology training program has developed and standardized significantly over the past several years by broadening the scope and measurability of the general surgery resident's learning experience during rotations. In 2007, the division's Breast Cancer Fellowship Program began, becoming one of only 33 such programs in the U.S. undergoing the official process of being approved by the Society of Surgical Oncology.