CITY OF ATLANTA

ATLANTA is a city with a global health focus, due in large part to its proximity to some of the world’s most prominent health organizations, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; The Carter Center; the international headquarters of CARE; the national headquarters of the American Cancer Society; and the patient care, teaching, and health-related research programs of Emory University’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center. As a thriving cultural, educational, and business center, Atlanta is consistently ranked as one of the nation’s most livable cities. With a metropolitan-area population of more than 6 million, Atlanta is home to headquarters of several of the nation’s leading businesses, such as the Coca-Cola Company, Home Depot, United Parcel Service, Delta Air Lines, AT&T Mobility, and Newell Rubbermaid.

Atlanta is ranked in the top 10 in the United States in the number of Fortune 500 headquarters located within the city’s boundaries. Host of the 1996 Summer Olympics, Atlanta’s reputation as an international city continues to grow. A verdant and vibrant city, Atlanta possesses the vigor and open space that accommodates entrepreneurs and established corporations, opera companies and rock concerts, first-run movies, and film classics. Atlanta is large enough to have a rapid rail system, yet small enough to retain historic neighborhoods within minutes of the downtown skyline. Atlanta is a city where the history of the past and the technology of the future blend to create a vital and growing global center of excellence. Atlanta is a major U.S. government center and is the site of the Southeastern regional offices of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Labor, and numerous others.

The Public Health Service’s U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry are headquartered in Atlanta. As the state capital, Atlanta houses state government services as well. And there’s more: the High Museum of Art; the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; the Atlanta Ballet; the National Center for Civil and Human Rights; The King Center; the Georgia Aquarium; professional sports teams (the Braves, the Hawks, the Thrashers, the Falcons, Atlanta United); restaurants; rock, jazz, and blues clubs; frequent concerts; and celebrated annual outdoor events, such as the Piedmont Park Arts Festival, the Atlanta Dogwood Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Festival, and the Peachtree Road Race. Further afield, there’s sailing, water skiing, fishing, and camping at nearby Lake Lanier. For weekend trips (a half-day’s drive north or south), there’s backpacking on the Appalachian Trail, snow skiing in the Carolina mountains, or sunning on the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico.