Every day when I walk into Winship at Emory Midtown, you see people who are 100% dedicated to helping our patients.

Benjamin Lewis, patient services coordinator
Sheryl M. Bluestein, MBA, MHA, serves as senior vice president of cancer service line operations at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. In this capacity, she functions as the executive leader overseeing Winship’s cancer care operations systemwide at Emory Healthcare. In this interview, Bluestein discussed her 17 years of experience with Emory, focusing on the 12 years she has worked at Winship.
Bluestein says “there’s a lot” that inspires her about working at Winship, particularly the people. “Every day when I walk into Winship at Emory Midtown, you see people who are 100% dedicated to helping our patients.”
One example that stands out to Bluestein is the morning after Hurricane Helene in September 2024. She says, “I encountered Ben at our front desk. And I just thanked him for being there, and I said, ‘Hey, did you have to drive through bad weather?’ He said, ‘I'll drive through a hurricane, I'll drive through whatever I need to be here for our patients—it’s critical.’ And I think Ben just represents the many employees that work at Winship at Emory Midtown and Winship overall,” she says.
“There are a lot of people just like Ben throughout the entire Winship Cancer Institute.”

Bluestein with a Winship staff member
What are some ways that your work at Winship inspires hope?
Back in 2010, I had the opportunity to work on the very first business plan for Winship at Emory Midtown. That facility was sort of a dream come true, and we were able to design and build a cancer care center that had never been seen or imagined before. My role with that was really making sure that we had the right frontline team members, the right care design team to help design the building to make sure that it was what our patients deserve. Helping to create a new cancer care center that would allow us to provide even more patients with Winship-quality care was huge for me.
Other recent projects that I’ve been a part of include improving our access. We’ve seen incredible patient satisfaction scores. Our patients really love the care model. We’ve hired intake navigators to help our patients make sure they have what they need—from scheduling their very first visit, to the very first time they arrive in our clinics. We’ve added a lot of new care team members. We’re also adding clinic navigators as well. So, in my role, I really try to make sure that we are getting our care teams the equipment and space they need in order to take care of our patients.
What does “Where Science Becomes Hope” mean to you?
“Where Science Becomes Hope” really resonates with me as it relates to the importance of our NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center designation. It speaks to the research that we do finding new treatments that will allow our patients to live a full life. And I think it speaks not just to the hope for our patients, but to their family members and everybody that surrounds them. It’s really one of the things that makes me so proud to work for Winship, really having that research arm with clinical care as well as education. The connection with the research ensures that the best possible treatments, cutting-edge equipment and best possible care are available to our patients at Winship.
Winship is where science becomes hope.
Who have you observed inspiring hope in our patients, our team or our community? We would love to hear from you. If you have a story to share about someone inspiring hope at Winship, reach out to us using this form.