It was located on the grounds of the Briarcliff Estate, the former residence of Asa G. Candler, Jr., the son of the founder of Coca-Cola.

[1] Emory doctors provided some of the mental health services at GMHI, and some residents and fellows received part of their training in psychiatry there.

The university also had 10 faculty scientists conducting 18 research studies at GMHI, focused on mental health, brain and central nervous system diseases.

They decided that they could send GMHI patients to other hospitals nearby and use the $24.5 million budget in other community mental health services.

[3] Unofficially the campus was referred to as "Emory West", and the university considered either renovating the existing 17 buildings or constructing new ones.