USC Keck Medicine Magazine Winter 2013

The Magazine of the Keck School of Medicine of USC | Winter 2013 Issue

Patient-Focused Technology

New biomedical technologies address health care needs

PAGE 16

Leadership in Motion Medicine in Pasadena

P A G E 1 7 World-Class

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Breast Cancer Trailblazers Hazardous to Your Health

New Hope for Breast Cancer Patients.

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Call today to make an appointment and learn more about your options.

(323) 865-3111 | KeckMedicineofUSC.org/breastcancer

WINTER 2013 ISSUE

Contents

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On the Cover 8 Technology on the Move Biomedical technologies offer novel ways to address health care needs C over photograph: Zachary Garrett, left, wears a biofeedback

device invented by Terry Sanger, M.D., Ph.D., to help strengthen muscles. Photo by Philip Channing

F E A T U RE S

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1 4 Rebels

with a Cause

A media titan and a Nobel Laureate are honored as event raises $3.6 million for cancer research 1 5 Changing

Lives, Creating Cures

DreamWorks event raises over $1 million for urologic cancer and robotics research

New ‘Joint’ Chief Jay Lieberman’s arrival enhances already strong orthopaedic 1 6

surgery department

World-Class Medicine Expands Keck Medical Center Pasadena offers multidisciplinary care 1 7

in the San Gabriel Valley

Breast Cancer Trailblazers Clinical trials transform lab discoveries into therapies 2 0 Hazardous to Your Health Researchers study impact of air pollution and offer ways to reduce it 1 9

D E P A RT M ENT S

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3A

3 Dean’s

Message Trojan teamwork triumphs 4 In Brief International award; stem cell funding; new degree programs 2 3 Keck in the News A sampling of news coverage of the Keck School of Medicine 2 4 Where Can You Find USC’s Medical Experts?

2 6 Spotlight/Continuing Medical Education A D V A N C I N G K E C K M E D I C I NE (after page 26)

1 A Keck

Medicine Initiative progress donates $6 million for stroke clinic 3 A $3.5 million funds Kidney Research Center 4 A McMahon installed as W. M. Keck Professor 2 A Foundation

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KeckMedicine Winter 2013

EDITOR

Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., Dean

David Lee, Ph.D., Chairman

Edward P. Roski Jr., Vice Chairman Wallis Annenberg, Chairman,

CEO and President Annenberg Foundation

Peter K. Barker, Chairman of California

JP Morgan Chase

Gordon Binder, Managing Director

John Kusmiersky, President The Brickstone Companies

Deborah Lanni, President Lanni Family Charitable Foundation

David Lee, Managing General Partner Clarity Partners James P. Lower, Partner Hanna & Morton, LLP

Coastview Capital, LLC

Alfred E. Mann, Chairman and CEO

Eli and Edythe L. Broad Foundation

Richard Merkin, President and CEO

Hughes Aircraft Company

Cecil L. Murray, Pastor (Retired)

W.M. Keck Foundation

C. L. Max Nikias, President

USC Board of Trustees

Holly Robinson Peete, Co-Founder

Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs University of Southern California

Edward P. Roski Jr., President and CEO

Majestic Realty Co.

Shamrock Holdings Inc.

Steven B. Sample, President Emeritus

Eli Broad, Chairman and CEO

Malcolm R. Currie, Chairman Emeritus Robert A. Day, Chairman Helene V. Galen, Member

Elizabeth Garrett, Provost and

Advanced Bionics Corp.

Heritage Provider Network

First AME Church

University of Southern California HollyRod Foundation

University of Southern California

Ghada Irani

University of Southern California

Thomas E. Jackiewicz, Senior Vice

Steven Spielberg, Member USC Board of Trustees

Howard B. Keck Jr., Director

Gary L. Wilson, Chairman

Stephen M. Keck, Senior Vice President

Selim K. Zilkha

President for USC Health University of Southern California

W.M. Keck Foundation

Trust Company of the West

KeckMedicine

| Winter 2013 Issue

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Ryan Ball, Tania Chatila, Elena Epstein, Imelda Valenzuela Fowler, Amy E. Hamaker, Hope Hamashige, Linda Kossoff, Jon Nalick, Candace Pearson, Alana Klein Prisco, Sara Reeve, Leslie Ridgeway, Carrie St. Michel, Alison Trinidad, Kukla Vera, Susan Wampler CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Philip Channing, Steve Cohn, Patrick Davison, Don Milici, Brian Morri, Jon Nalick, Donald Norris, Gus Ruelas, Chris Shinn, Jordan Strauss/Invision, Alison Trinidad, Van Urfalian, Valerie Zapanta P H OTO S E RV I C E S C O O R D I N ATO R

Monica Padilla B usiness and D I S T R I B U T I O N

Eva Blaauw, Carol Matthieu, Aline Ocon

Kathryn Sample

Stanley P. Gold, President and CEO

Occidental Petroleum Corporation

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Kent Kresa, Chairman Emeritus Northrop Grumman Corp.

ART DIRECTION

IE Design + Communications Hermosa Beach, CA

Wendy Stark, Editor

Vanity Fair

Manhattan Pacific Partners

Zilkha Biomass Energy

Keck Medicine is published twice a year by the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Articles, artwork and photography may be reprinted only with permission.

Please send all correspondence to: USC Health Sciences Public Relations & Marketing 1975 Zonal Ave., KAM 400 Los Angeles, CA 90033-9029 323-442-2830 prmarketing@med.usc.edu

Photo by Philip Channing

BOARD OF OVERSEERS

Ina Fried Executive Director, Communications

Message from the Dean

USC is all about teams. Not just the famous Trojan athletic teams, but also the multidisciplinary teams that tackle important projects across USC’s campuses.

Carmen A . Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A.

Dean Keck School of Medicine of USC

I’ve long been an advocate of teamwork in the improvement of patient care. Twenty years ago I initiated a team in Boston that developed optical coherence tomography (OCT), imaging technology that has dramatically improved the ability of clinicians to diagnose and treat such blinding diseases as macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. You can read on the next page about the international Champalimaud Vision Award we received in September for that work.

Our cover story features some examples of collaboration between engineering and medicine here at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. At the same time that we are inventing and adopting new patient-focused technologies, our HTE@USC program is training both medical and engineering students to develop new biomedical innovations.

Our story on page 16 about the appointment of Dr. Jay Lieberman to chair our Department of Orthopaedic Surgery notes that he is a pioneer in musculoskeletal gene therapy to promote bone repair. One of the attractions for Jay to join us here was the opportunity for research collaboration with the team that Dr. Andrew McMahon leads in the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC. We expect great advances as a result.

Teamwork is highlighted again in our story that begins on page 17 about the new Keck Medical Center of USC Pasadena. Patients like the one featured in the story can see a whole team of specialists at this beautiful new facility located conveniently to homes and jobs in the San Gabriel Valley.

In our Department of Preventive Medicine, teams of researchers are working to ensure a healthy environment for our kids and our grandkids. In our story that begins on page 20, you can read about local and global work to quantify the health risks of air pollution and to offer real-world solutions for reducing it.

Two special fundraising events that occurred in the fall are featured on pages 14 and 15.

Sumner M. Redstone, executive chairman of Viacom and CBS Corporation, led the contribution of over $3.6 million at an event supporting cancer research and clinical care. Jeff Small, president and chief operating officer of DreamWorks Studios, hosted an event that raised over $1 million for urologic cancer and robotics research.

Among recent gifts noted in our Advancing Keck Medicine newsletter are $6 million from the Roxanna Todd Hodges Foundation for stroke research, treatment and prevention and $3.5 million from the University Kidney Research Organization for research on kidney disease.

The stories in the newsletter reflect the impact of our teamwork with you – our generous alumni, trustees, parents, friends, foundations, corporations, faculty and staff. In just two years the Keck Medicine Initiative of The Campaign for the University of Southern California has raised more than $375 million in gifts and pledges. This represents 25 percent of the initiative’s goal of $1.5 billion to advance research, enrich medical education, enhance patient care and strengthen the infrastructure of USC’s academic medical enterprise.

Photo by Don Milici

As always, we thank you for your support.

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In Brief

A Quick Look at news from the Keck School of Medicine of USC and honors for faculty, students and alumni.

K

I N ternational recognition

Dean Puliafito honored with prestigious award

“ The António Champalimaud Vision Award is a magnificent testament to Dr. Puliafito’s pioneering achievements in medical research.

Dr. Puliafito is certainly an inspiration for our USC and global scientific communities.”

– USC President C. L. Max Nikias, Ph.D.

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From left: Joel S. Schuman; James G. Fujimoto; Carmen A. Puliafito; Keck School of Medicine of USC Dean CarMaria Leonor Beleza, president of the Champalimaud Foundation; men A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., has received Anibal Cavaco Silva, president of Portugal; Eric A. Swanson; the 2012 António Champalimaud Vision David Huang; and David R. Williams.

Award for the invention and development of optical coherence tomography (OCT), imaging technology that has revolutionized the practice of ophthalmology by dramatically improving the ability of clinicians to diagnose and treat such blinding diseases as macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. (For a video description of OCT, see keck.usc.edu/octaward) Puliafito received the award in September in Lisbon, Portugal, during a ceremony at the Champalimaud Foundation, one of the world’s largest international scientific institutions.

He shared half of the award’s 1 million euro ($1.26 million) prize with research team members James G. Fujimoto, Ph.D., professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); David Huang, M.D., Ph.D., Weeks Professor of Ophthalmic Research, Oregon Health & Science University (formerly of the Doheny Eye Institute at USC); Joel S. Schuman, M.D., Eye & Ear Foundation Professor and chairman, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; and Eric A. Swanson, M.S., researcher, Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT. The other half of the prize was shared by researchers led by David R. Williams, Ph.D., William G. Allyn Chair of Medical Optics and director of the Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester. Williams’ team was honored for its development of adaptive optics (AO), an imaging technology that enables clinicians to examine retinal microstructures and improve vision by correcting minute aberrations of the eye.

“Both discoveries offer non-invasive methods to obtain high-resolution images of the retina that have drastically changed ophthalmic practice and hold great potential to advance both new research and clinical care,” the Champalimaud Foundation said. The foundation noted the “multidisciplinary development” of OCT and said both OCT and AO had “transformed eye care and medicine worldwide.”

“OCT is a case study in the power of collaboration between engineering and medicine in the development of new technologies that can dramatically improve patient care,” said Puliafito, the May S. and John Hooval Dean’s Chair in Medicine and professor of ophthalmology and health management at the Doheny Eye Institute.

Established by the Lisbon-based Champalimaud Foundation in 2006, the Vision Award is conferred in oddnumbered years for practical accomplishments in preventing blindness, particularly in developing countries, and in even-numbered years for outstanding scientific research in the field of vision science. Recipients are selected by a jury of distinguished scientists, including two Nobel laureates, and prominent public figures from around the world.

“The António Champalimaud Vision Award is a magnificent testament to Dr. Puliafito’s pioneering achievements in medical research,” said USC President C. L. Max Nikias, Ph.D. “Dr. Puliafito is certainly an inspiration for our USC and global scientific communities.”

| Winter 2013 Issue

Photo by Rui Ochoa

By Leslie Ridgeway

promising work

CIRM awards USC researchers $7.45 million the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has awarded $7.45 million to USC researchers to help Andrew McMahon move promising stem cell-based therapies from the laboratory research phase to clinical trials in people.

CIRM approved a $5.7 million Research Leadership Award to foster the recruitment of Andrew McMahon, Ph.D., from the Harvard Stem Cell Institute to the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC. McMahon, director of the stem cell center, plans to use the award to study ways to repair and regenerate kidney tissue. Research Leadership Awards are intended to support robust and innovative stem cell research programs of the most promising researchers newly recruited to California. McMahon is Provost Professor and the W. M. Keck Professor of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. He chairs the newly created Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. The research team of Toshio Miki, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of research at the Keck School, received a $1.75 million grant to engineer transplantable liver cells from discarded human placentas as a potential cure for certain congenital metabolic disorders.

The proposed cell therapy, if successful, could benefit thousands of patients in California and beyond who suffer from various liver diseases.

Miki is the principal investigator of the project and is considered a leading world expert on human amniotic epithelial cells derived from the placenta. His current research is targeted to reach clinical trials in humans by July 2015.

C alifornia’ s stem cell agenc y,

Photo by Philip Channing

K eck S chool offers new degree opportunities

The Keck School of Medicine of USC is expanding its offering of degree programs— appealing to undergraduates, pharmacy professionals and online students.

A new minor in health care studies is being offered in collaboration with the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, giving students glimpses into research and clinical practice, as well as the social, economic and political issues surrounding health care. While students will take core sciences courses in biology and chemistry, they will also study contemporary issues in health care, such as studying the legal issues and business challenges of running a successful health care practice.

USC is also enrolling students in the new Doctor of Pharmacy/MS Global Medicine dual degree program, a program that will graduate pharmacy professionals with an advanced understanding of the role of modern medicine and the provision of care in developing

countries worldwide. The program was developed by leaders at the Keck School and the USC School of Pharmacy to respond to the need for pharmacists and global health leaders who are capable of analyzing and understanding the impact and use of pharmaceuticals in developing countries with populations that are often greatly underserved in health care.

The Keck School is beginning to educate the next generation of public health leaders online in the spring of 2013, in an effort to help meet growing demand for professionals in this area.

The new platform will allow the Keck School Master of Public Health program to admit, and ultimately graduate, more students. It also opens the field of prospective students to working professionals, many of whom are clinicians, who want the opportunity to pursue further education while keeping their jobs, as well as to people who live out of state or even overseas.

Support Stem Cell Research Over the past five years, USC has emerged as a world leader in stem cell research. The opening of the Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC in October 2010 provided a significant opportunity for growth.

Your gift can help fulfill the potential of stem cells to prevent, treat or even reverse a multitude of medical conditions, including skeletal, lung, heart, kidney, liver and neurological diseases, and cancer: • Endowed Chair – A gift of $3 million will establish an endowed chair that will help the Keck School of Medicine continue to attract and retain outstanding faculty leaders.

• Endowed Professorship – A gift of $2 million will establish a named professorship to attract and retain outstanding faculty.

• Endowed Research Fund – A gift of $1 million for a named fund will help launch a stem cell research initiative directed toward solving the mysteries of a specific disease.

• Current-Use Research Fund – A current-use gift of $250,000 may be designated to help support a specific area of stem cell research.

• Current-Use Director’s Fund – A gift of $100,000 will provide discretionary current-use funding to the director to support innovative programs in stem cell research and education.

To learn more, please contact Melany Duval, senior associate dean and associate vice president of health sciences development, melany.duval@med.usc.edu, 323-442-1531. To make a gift online, go to broadstemcell.usc.edu/Donate.

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IN BRIEF

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CONTINUED

C A R E E R A S P I R AT I O N S

Keck School helps train high school stem cell researchers

By Leslie Ridgeway

Family Medicine program wins outreach award The American Academy of Family Physicians honored the Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Family Medicine Interest Group for its outstanding activities in generating interest in family medicine.

The academy recognized the Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG) and 15 other honorees at its 2012 Program of Excellence Awards at the National Conference of Family Medicine Residents and Medical Students in July in Kansas City, Mo. The Keck School of Medicine FMIG was honored for its outreach, leadership and collaboration with other organizations and specialties to work with the student-run health clinic and Cuddle Club, a program that allows medical students to interact with newborn babies in the hospital. The Keck School’s FMIG programs demonstrated the family physician’s expertise in preventive, clinical medicine and procedural skills.

The FMIG continued to promote its mentorship program and to provide opportunities for students to interact with family physicians. The FMIG also hosted hands-on procedural workshops and brown-bag lunch talks on topics ranging from inter-professional care models in geriatrics to postgraduate specialty training.

Nationwide, 140 medical schoolsponsored FMIGs give students a chance to learn more about family medicine.

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Two new summer education programs at the Keck School of Medicine of USC gave 19 high school students with aspirations for careers in biomedical research an opportunity to gain experience in the field.

The USC Early Investigator High School (EiHS) Summer Program in Stem Cell Research placed nine students from the Harvard-Westlake School, Marlborough School and Milken Community High School in Los Angeles and Lifeline Education Charter School in Compton, Calif., in an eight-week program working with faculty scientist mentors who supervised students as they conducted research and taught them about lab procedures, ethics and compliance.

EiHS was developed by Victoria Fox, Ph.D., director of the Stem Cell Core at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC with support from Jeff Gunter, M.D., a Los Angeles-area physician and chair of the stem cell center advisory board.

In addition, the USC CIRM STAR High School Summer Research and Creativity program enabled 10 interns from Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School in Los Angeles to spend eight weeks working with USC scientists, learning about stem cell research, communication strategies and public policy development.

The USC CIRM STAR program was funded by a $264,000 Creativity Award from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Roberta Diaz Brinton, Ph.D., professor in the USC School of Pharmacy, is director of the USC STAR Program, a 23-year collaborative science program between USC and nearby Bravo Medical Magnet High School.

Dean’s health care panel offers insights on potential of personalized medicine

By Imelda Valenzuela Fowler

By the end of the first-ever Dean’s Health Care Briefing and Luncheon, not a single business card remained from stacks of cards that Keck School of Medicine Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., had left on a reception table.

“We’re here to help you when it comes to your own health care needs and those of your family and your friends,” said Puliafito as he welcomed an overflow crowd of more than 200 local community members and friends of USC who attended the briefing in July in Aresty Auditorium. “If you need some advice, my business card is out there, so do not hesitate to call my office when you need advice about what to do.”

The dean moderated the discussion among eight Keck School physicians, then opened the floor to take questions from the audience.

A primary theme of the event was personalized medicine. Many of the panelists stressed the importance for patients to take charge of their health care needs and educate themselves about risk factors and family history.

The dean provided his definition of personalized medicine. “It’s personalized in terms of having a discussion with the patient, having a diligent physician who is willing to analyze the data and discuss it with the patient. That’s medicine at its best.”

Photo courtesy of Kumiko Tanaka (left); Photo by Jon Nalick (right)

From left: Students Rebecca Simon-Freeman and Kumiko Tanaka with family medicine mentor and advisor Jo Marie Reilly, M.D.

Harvard-Westlake School senior Ashley Wu works in a program that offers high school students practical experience in stem cell research.

Keck Hospital of USC is recognized for its strong skills in the most challenging procedures and medical conditions.

USC’s hospitals ranked among nation’s best

Photo by Patrick Davison (left); Photo courtesy of Dilip Parekh, M.D. (right)

By Alison Trinidad

Keck Hospital of USC and USC Norris Cancer Hospital are again recognized among the top hospitals in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in its annual “Best Hospitals” report.

USC-affiliated Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, staffed exclusively by Keck School of Medicine of USC faculty physicians, was also named to the magazine’s Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll and was ranked among the top five in the nation.

USC Norris Cancer Hospital was ranked in the top 50 in cancer care (No. 43) and high-performing in nephrology and urology.

For the first time, the magazine provided statewide hospital rankings in addition to rankings in select metropolitan areas. Keck Hospital ranked No. 6 in California and No. 3 in the Los Angeles metro area. In specialty areas, this year Keck Hospital was ranked in the top 10 nationally for ophthalmology and among the top 50 for geriatric care and neurology/ neurosurgery. Keck Hospital was also recognized as high-performing in nine additional specialty areas: cancer; cardiology and heart surgery; ear, nose and throat; gastroenterology; gynecology; nephrology; orthopaedics; pulmonology; and urology.

Of the 5,000 hospitals considered nationwide, fewer than 150 are nationally ranked in at least one of 16 medical specialties.

Dilip Parekh, M.D., left, Keck School Department of Surgery, signs an educational and research exchange agreement with Yang-de Zhang, M.D., chair of the World Endoscopy Doctors Association.

G LO BA L A L L I A N C E S

USC extends its medical reach in the Pacific Rim H ealth S ciences campus leaders are building bridges between the universit y

and medical providers in China, where efforts to modernize the country’s health care system are leading to growing privatization of health care. The focus on Chinese relations comes at a significant time for the university as a whole, as it works to create alliances with the Pacific Rim, a top priority under USC President C. L. Max Nikias, Ph.D. Dozens of senior surgeons from hospitals across China came to USC for training in minimally invasive surgery as part of a new educational and research exchange agreement.

Dilip Parekh, M.D., Department of Surgery section chief for hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery in the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and Brad Selby, M.B.A., chief administrative officer of the department, helped ink the agreement, which they said provides for as many as 75 Chinese surgeons each year to undergo training in the Department of Surgery at the Health Sciences campus.

A high-level delegation of Chinese physicians met with Jacques Van Dam, M.D., Ph.D., professor of medicine at the Keck School, during a daylong visit to the Health Sciences campus. As part of the international outreach effort in gastroenterology, visiting physicians and surgeons from Shanghai observed advanced gastrointestinal endoscopy and compared experiences with USC faculty and staff.

Van Dam said, “Having learned a great deal from this first-of-its-kind venture, USC faculty now plan to pursue more expanded contacts with Chinese and other international physicians in an effort to establish collaborative programs in training and clinical care.”

Six surgeons from the USC Institute of Urology, led by founding executive director Inderbir Gill, M.D., concluded a successful six-day trip to China, where they performed 15 robotic surgeries, including robotic radical cystectomy for bladder cancer. This visit followed a previous one in which the Institute of Urology offered a series of live-surgery symposia to more than 1,800 Chinese urologists.

Keck Medical Center of USC Chief Medical Officer Donald Larsen, M.D., M.B.A., is working to standardize processes focused on business development, the operational details of an international patient referral, hospitality for patients and families when they arrive, and aftercare when they return to China. He is looking for Mandarin-speaking staff and physicians who may be interested in serving as liaisons, clinical practitioners and in administrative roles in this new program. keck.usc.edu KeckMedicine 7

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technolog y on the move

Technology on the Move

New biomedical technologies at USC offer novel ways of addressing changing health care needs By Alana Klein Prisco

The time has come when patients monitor their heart rates via smartphones; when robots help doctors perform complex procedures with precision; when surgeons perform operations using threedimensional cameras and glasses; when “hybrid” operating rooms function as both a diagnostic lab and high-tech surgical suite; and when children with poor motor skills learn how to move properly through a portable biofeedback device.

USC is leading the way for these, and many other, innovative medical uses of technology. Combined with physician expertise, these new biomedical technologies are revolutionizing the delivery and quality of patient care at USC and beyond.

“With the skyrocketing costs of medicine and the disparities in our ability to provide health care to lots of people, technology can make health care more accessible,” says Terry Sanger, M.D., Ph.D., provost associate professor in USC’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. Sanger directs the Pediatric Movement Disorders Clinic at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and he is academic director of HTE@USC (HTE stands for health, technology and engineering), a shared program of the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

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Photo by Philip Channing

Terry Sanger, left, assesses the gait of Zachary Garrett, who wears on his legs biofeedback devices that Sanger invented.

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technolog y on the move

Support HTE@USC

You can help support these students as they build technology that has the power to dramatically alter patients’ health: • Endowment for Student Scholarships – A gift of $1 million will endow a student scholarship.

• Current Use Student Scholarships – A gift of $100,000 will provide scholarship support for a student for four years.

• Student Research – Support students’ work in developing clinical innovations by making a gift of any amount.

To learn more, please contact Molly Gervais, mgervais@usc.edu, 323-442-1700. To make a gift online, go to keck. usc.edu/supportkeck.

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Anthony Senagore wears 3-D glasses during colorectal surgery.

C omputer to clinic

Even as a staunch believer in the power of technology, Sanger is quick to point out that “technology won’t solve all of our problems.” He stresses the importance of building the right kind of technology. “If you get it wrong, you can hurt people. But if you get it right, you can have a huge impact,” he says.

With a passion for pediatrics and computer science, Sanger set out to build the right technology to help children with movement disorders. His research began at Stanford University, where he studied how the brain controls muscles and how injury to the brain leads to movement disorders.

He ultimately discovered a way to help children with movement disorders (ones that cause involuntary movements and extended muscle contractions) retrain their muscles. Through the use of a biofeedback device worn on the affected muscles, patients learn to become aware of the muscles they are activating. “If you don’t know what your muscles are doing, you can’t control them,” Sanger says.

Sanger’s device features a small sensor that attaches to the skin to measure electric potential in the muscles.

When the sensor detects electrical activity, it emits a blue light, and the patient feels a vibration. “Once you’ve done something correctly, you remember it. It’s like learning how to ride a bike,” he says, adding that while the device “does a very simple thing, there’s a lot of complexity under the hood.” | Winter 2013 Issue

Jeffrey Hagen and colleagues use new technology to improve both diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

He’s currently conducting two clinical trials for this device at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Nine-yearold Zachary Garrett participated in one of these trials.

He has difficulty moving his anterior tibialis, the muscle responsible for lifting his toes off the ground. In just one month of wearing the small sensory feedback device, his motor function of that muscle significantly improved.

“He couldn’t tap his feet before. This wasn’t a muscle he had ever used or was even aware of,” says Marcy Garrett, Zachary’s mother. Now he has a much better range of motion, which will make it easier to do the things he loves, such as playing basketball, karate and swimming. Zachary wants to be active and move as fast as his friends, she says, and now he is one step closer to doing that.

E ngineers and doctors innovate together

When Sanger isn’t working with children, he’s inspiring scientists- and doctors-to-be to discover new biomedical innovations through the HTE@USC program. This four-year program is designed for both medical and engineering students seeking hands-on, real-world experience in medical technology.

“The program is focused on the idea of teamwork with the notion that medical technology develops when doctors and engineers are an integral part of the team,” Sanger says. Students are responsible for

Photo by Alison Trinidad (left); Photo by Van Urfalian (right)

HTE@USC is part of a larger USC effort to promote rapid advances in health care through research and education that combines medicine with advanced engineering and scientific technologies. Medical and engineering students collaborate on technology projects specifically geared toward medical advancement.

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generating new ideas that can help address a health care need.

“Coming up with a good idea is actually the hardest part,” Sanger says. Faculty guide students through the idea discovery process by encouraging students to ponder questions like: “How do you create things that people don’t know they need but that will ultimately make their lives better?” There’s no easy way to answer that question, and that’s the point. “It requires that students think very carefully about what the needs are,” Sanger says.

Students go out into the field, test their ideas, do prototyping and then pitch their ideas to investors.

“If you’re going to innovate and change the world, you need to be talking to and involved with people using your product,” Sanger says. Students have developed ideas ranging from a novel baby monitor to a better visualization tool for laparoscopies.

While the program is still new (the first class of students entered their second year last fall), Sanger says he can already see the change in their level of sophistication “You can no longer tell who are doctors and who are engineers,” he says. “They came in speaking different languages, but they all speak the same language now.”

Photo by Philip Channing

D elivering digital health care

Good ideas often may be hard to come by, but they are plentiful at the USC Center for Body Computing (CBC), a coalition established in 2010 that is headed by Leslie Saxon, M.D., chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine at the Keck School. The CBC works with engineers, device companies and others in the USC community – including the School of Cinematic Arts, the Marshall School of Business and the Viterbi School of Engineering – to rethink the delivery of health care aided by health software applications or “apps.”

Saxon has developed many health care apps, including “MyQuitCoach,” a smoking cessation app, and she has very high expectations for a new electrocardiogram device in the works. Allowing users to monitor heart rates via their smartphone, tablet computer and other similar platforms, this device will give health care providers a way to monitor and assess patients’ heart health in real time.

The technology provides distinct benefits to health care providers. Simply put, “technology makes you a more effective clinician,” Saxon says, adding that it can reduce the margin of error. “Because health care narratives are often long and sequential, they are better off being virtual,” she

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says. “It improves the chances of not missing something and getting a more comprehensive picture of a patient.”

Technology also enables better access to care, especially for those with chronic health problems. “It frees up the brick and mortar way of practicing medicine for those patients who really need in-person care,” Saxon says.

While technology will never replace the physical patient-doctor encounter, it has the potential to change the way patients feel about going to the doctor. “When health care becomes integrated into a patient’s daily life, it often takes the fear out of health care,” Saxon says. Technology empowers patients to be more proactive about their health and therefore more informed, she adds. “When patients are enfranchised with information, they are less likely to feel vulnerable and isolated.”

This device fulfills an important goal of the CBC, which is to make health care more mainstream.

“Right now our health is segregated from other things we do in our daily life,” Saxon says. She envisions a world where patients take a more active role in monitoring their own health. “We want to see patients interact with their own health data in the same way that they interact with their financial data or sports data,” she says.

T echnolog y for prevention

Saxon has developed another innovative idea – one that straddles the worlds of social media and medicine.

Through everyheartbeat.org, a website that will allow people to log their heart rate data using their smartphones, Saxon hopes to build a database of heart information that can be used to detect heart abnormalities and enable predictive analytics across populations. It’s just another example of Saxon’s dedication to changing the delivery of health care and “enabling people to continuously transfer health information seamlessly,” she says.

Biomedical technology has clear applications for those who suffer health problems.

But it can also play an important role in preventive care. This is particularly true for people who face significant health risks, such as professional and college athletes. The CBC received a $100,000 medical grant from the NFL Charities to study the dynamic heart rate of National Football League players and USC student athletes.

Leslie Saxon uses a smartphone with thumb-size sensors to remotely monitor heart rates.

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technolog y on the move

Because the risk of sudden death in people with cardiovascular disease increases twofold among competitive athletes, Saxon says, “we can use this technology to understand which players might be at risk for advanced cardiac disease.”

R obots on the surgical team

Inderbir Gill

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Biomedical innovations are also taking place in the operating room. USC has invested in an emerging technology that mimics human behaviors – robots.

Robots have made their way into laparoscopic prostatectomy procedures (removal of all or part of the prostate gland) under the leadership of Inderbir Gill, M.D., professor and chair, Catherine and Joseph Aresty Department of Urology at the Keck School. The addition of robotics has helped to reduce the duration of the procedure, blood loss and length of hospital stay.

Gill’s team has performed more than 5,000 robotic and laparoscopic prostatectomy surgeries in the last five years, and was one of the first in the country to perform an outpatient robotic catheter-free prostatectomy. The team’s extensive experience makes a big difference for patients.

“To save the nerve beautifully that is responsible for erections, to save the sphincter beautifully that is responsible for urinary control, to remove the prostate perfectly such that the entire cancer is removed, really requires considerable skill and experience,” Gill says.

As an early adopter of this kind of technology, USC is the only academic medical center in Southern California to use robots for lung cancer management, according to Jeffrey Hagen, M.D., associate professor of surgery at the Keck School. Specifically, Hagen and his colleagues have been performing robotic lobectomy surgery, a less-invasive approach to removing cancer in the affected lobe of the lung.

“Robots allow us to do a better operation for lung cancer patients. We’re able to do the same operations we’ve traditionally done, but in a less-invasive fashion,” Hagen says, adding that this translates into shorter recovery time and less pain for patients. “There’s also a suggestion that long-term outcomes may be better,” Hagen adds.

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T he third dimension

Hagen and his colleagues are taking advantage of another new technology that enhances accuracy and minimizes invasiveness. Known as electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy, this technology – through the use of an electromagnetic field and three dimensional navigation – can more accurately evaluate nodules detected on imaging studies that may be cancerous. “It creates a three-dimensional reconstruction of the patients’ lung anatomy so we can better target the lesion,” Hagen says. It also provides better sensitivity in detecting cancer and the possibility of avoiding other invasive surgical procedures, he adds.

“X-ray studies – especially screening CT scans – detect a large number of tiny nodules in the lungs in patients at risk for lung cancer,” Hagen explains. “The challenge is that the vast majority of these tiny nodules are nothing of significance – non-cancerous nodules outnumber cancerous nodules by over 10 to one.

“The problem is that one cannot simply ignore the nodules since they could be cancerous, and the desire to rule out cancer leads to a large number of invasive procedures being performed to detect the relatively small number that are actually cancer,” he says. “When all other modalities fail, these patients may be subjected to a more invasive surgical biopsy that can be associated with complications in as many as 10-15 percent of patients. With the electromagnetic navigational system, we can more accurately target the nodule to biopsy with greater sensitivity in determining if the nodule is cancer or not.”

Patients with colorectal cancer are also benefiting from 3-D tools. Anthony Senagore, M.D., chief of colorectal surgery at the Keck Medical Center of USC, led the implementation of a new 3-D visualization tool that gives surgeons the ability to see patients’ organs in 3-D rather than in the traditional two-dimensional view. The Keck Medical Center team was the first on the west coast to use 3-D laparoscopy for colorectal surgery.

“We’ve been performing advanced laparoscopic procedures for many years, and many of us have learned how to accommodate a two-dimensional picture,” Senagore said, “but this is really the first time we’ve been able to replicate the way we normally see the operative field. It’s enabled us to expedite the procedures and should improve accuracy and safety.”

Photo by Philip Channing

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USC’s Body Computing Conference

From left: USC physicians David Shavelle, Vaughn Starnes, and Ray Matthews perform an aortic valve replacement in a new hybrid operating room at Keck Hospital of USC.

Photo by Alison Trinidad

H igh -tech tools

Technology has also replaced the need for surgery altogether in regard to evaluating patients with lung cancer. Through the use of endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) biopsy, doctors can detect whether cancer has spread to a patient’s lymph nodes in the chest.

“Traditionally this has been done through a surgical procedure,” Hagen says. EBUS requires additional training and physician expertise. “You can’t get this at your local hospital, which is one of the advantages of USC’s focused program in lung cancer. We have the case volume to bring these new technologies to our patients.”

In the new “hybrid”operating room at Keck Hospital of USC, multiple technologies are being leveraged to enhance patient care. This facility can accommodate both inter-ventional procedures, which are typically performed only in a catheterization lab, as well as surgical procedures.

“This combines the operating room and catheterization laboratory into one, giving us the capability to perform procedures like coronary or aortic graft stenting and open heart surgery at one time,”says Vaughn Starnes, M.D., chair of the Department of Surgery and surgeon-in-chief of the USC hospitals.

“This opens a whole new portal for us, in terms of the types of therapy we can provide to our patients.”

Mark Cunningham, M.D., assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the Keck School, spearheaded the design of the hybrid suite at Keck Hospital. Although the room was designed to

improve cardiovascular treatments, it will also benefit general surgery and other specialties, such as neurological and laparoscopic services.

This 1,100-square-foot room is equipped with multiple high-definition cameras and video monitors that give surgeons better views of the operating field during minimally invasive surgery. The system also allows surgeons to use a laptop device to access live and stored surgical video files through an Internet link, watch live cases as they are being performed, and communicate between operating rooms.

Innovations like these – with more to come – are a way of life at USC. As urologist Gill says, “We are just getting started. You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

F or more information

To learn more about patient-focused technology, see these videos online: “Body Computing” with Leslie Saxon, M.D., keck.usc.edu/bodycomputing “Laparoscopic Surgery with 3-D Visualization” with Anthony Senagore, M.D., keck.usc.edu/senagore “High-tech Surgical Suite Debuts” with Vaughn A. Starnes, M.D., and Ray Matthews, M.D., keck.usc.edu/hybrid “Breathing New Life into Lung Cancer Care” with Jeffrey Hagen, M.D., and other faculty at USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital, lung.usc.edu

The sixth annual USC Body Computing Conference in October brought together 300 thought leaders from a variety of disciplines, including medicine, design, information technology, gaming and pharmaceuticals, to discuss the latest mobile health innovations and the state of wireless health care delivery.

This year’s themes included how big data will influence health care delivery, the development of new sensors and platforms, and athletic biosensing.

“We try to cover what happened in the last year and predict what the trends will be in the following year,” Saxon says. Nearly 40 speakers and panelists included highlevel executives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Microsoft Research and PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, among others.

“Every day I go to work and I ask myself, ‘How can technology bring me closer to my patients? How can I use it to make the lives of my patients better?’” Saxon said at the conference.

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At the Rebels with a Cause gala are, from left, cancer physician-researcher David Agus, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Young, legendary singer Tony Bennett and Keck School Dean Carmen A. Puliafito.

$3.6 Million Raised and Two Rebels Honored at Gala

By Imelda Valenzuela Fowler

(Top) Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa , left, visits with honoree Sumner M. Redstone.

(Bottom) Robert Cohen, left, co-owner of the Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, with honoree Murray Gell-Mann.

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Sumner M. Redstone, executive chairman of Viacom and CBS Corporation, achieved success in the media and entertainment fields. Murray Gell-Mann, Ph.D., presidential professor of physics and medicine at USC, won the Nobel Prize for his work on the theory of elementary particles.

The event supported the lifesaving research and clinical care of David B. Agus, M.D., director of the USC Westside Cancer Center and the USC Center for Applied Molecular Medicine. Redstone has donated more than $27 million toward Agus’ research and clinic at USC. Rebels with a Cause was named in honor of actor Dennis Hopper, a former Agus patient who appeared in the movie of a similar name. Hopper died in May 2010 of prostate cancer.

“Dennis Hopper was one of my inspirational heroes,” said Agus. “Obviously Rebels with a Cause is something we truly believe in. Dennis was like the people we are honoring tonight, on the frontier fighting against cancer, and in my mind, they are all rebels.”

The inaugural fundraiser took place Sept. 19 at the Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills.

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“When I say David is ahead of his time, quite seriously it’s because he knows and understands the future of medicine,” said Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “The contributions he has made, is making and will make in cancer research and treatment are inspirational in their own right. But they are also inspiring the next generation of young scientists and clinicians to ensure the future success of both fundamental and applied research.”

The gala featured special guest performances by Tony Bennett and Neil Young.

Actress and comedian Tracey Ullman, whose husband is a patient of Agus, served as emcee. “David gave us a psychological boost,” said Ullman. “He always treats my husband with respect, and he’s mindful of his pride and dignity,” she said amid tears.

Actress and comedian Tracey Ullman emcees the evening.

Photos by Donald Norris

Unconventional thinking paid off for two people honored as rebels at the recent Rebels with a Cause, Visionaries and Revolutionaries Transforming Cancer Research gala, which raised more than $3.6 million for cancer research.

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DreamWorks Event Raises Over $1 Million for USC Institute of Urology

By Imelda Valenzuela Fowler

After a meeting with his doctor in May 2010, Jeff Small, president and chief operating officer of DreamWorks Studios, found himself distraught and feeling “helpless and alone.”

He had just been diagnosed with kidney cancer.

Photo by Steve Cohn

At age 36, with a wife and two small daughters, he was told he had a large tumor on his left kidney and that the entire kidney would have to be removed. And then he met Inderbir S. Gill, M.D., professor and chair of the Catherine and Joseph Aresty Department of Urology and founding executive director of the USC Institute of Urology.

“I was still scared, but I was suddenly more confident and not helpless and not alone,” Small told a crowd of about 250 at the Changing Lives, Creating Cures fundraiser held Oct. 6 on the DreamWorks lot at Universal.

The event raised over $1 million to support urologic cancer and robotics research at the USC Institute of Urology.

“My team and I are confident and committed that we can rapidly translate tonight’s generosity into tomorrow’s cures,” said Gill, “to give our patients the priceless gift of time and hope.”

USC President C. L. Max Nikias, Ph.D., also addressed the audience. “The Keck Medical Center of USC is built on innovation, and one of the cornerstones of innovation in our medical enterprise is the USC Institute of Urology,” he said. “This vital institute has quickly emerged as a leader in diagnosing and treating all urological disorders. And I’m equally proud that it has become a groundbreaking pioneer of procedures once thought impossible. From developing a bloodless approach to removing kidney cancer to outpatient prostate removal, it is a place where the extraordinary has become ordinary.”

Nikias said the innovations have brought the

From left: DreamWorks president and chief operating officer Jeff Small, Inderbir Gill, Oscar-winning actor William Hurt, Niki Nikias, and USC President C. L. Max Nikias.

institute national acclaim as well as a dramatic increase in patient volume.

“We are truly grateful to have so many partners join us in our mission to support innovation in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of urologic cancer,” said Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “Your support helps us to serve our patients, allowing them to live longer and more robust lives. Make no mistake we are working toward a cure.”

Singer, dancer and actor Matthew Morrison, who plays a leading role in the television series “Glee,” provided the evening’s entertainment. Also in attendance were actors Beau Bridges, William Hurt and Octavia Spencer, as well as U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, state Controller John Chiang and state Assemblymember Michael Eng. As he told his personal story, Small mentioned his age at diagnosis several times, noting that the average age of someone who has been diagnosed with kidney cancer is 64, not 36. Small is a nonsmoker, living a healthy lifestyle with no history of cancer in his family. “Apparently, cancer does not discriminate,” he said.

“Two and a half weeks after I found myself in despair, I went into surgery. Five hours later I was out and so was my tumor. Eighty percent of my left kidney remained. Recovery was to come, but I would eventually receive the news I’d been waiting for: 36 years old, 1.8 kidneys, cancer-free and not helpless.”

Singer-actor Matthew Morrison performs.

Support Advances in Urology Your gift to the USC Institute of Urology will sustain the mission of providing the best care to our patients, as well as developing new treatments and cures for kidney and prostate cancer: • Endowed Chair – A gift of $3 million will establish a named endowed chair to attract and retain outstanding faculty leaders.

• Endowed Professorship – A gift of $2 million will establish a professorship to attract and retain outstanding faculty.

• Endowed Research Fund – A gift of $1 million will establish a disease-specific research initiative.

• Current Use Research Fund – A gift of $250,000 will provide seed funding to launch a research initiative.

To learn more, please contact John Baker, john. baker@usc.edu, or 323-865-0725. To make a gift online, go to keck. usc.edu/SupportUrology.

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LEADERSHIP IN MOTION

Leadership in Motion Your gift to the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery will help our physicians pursue research to enhance the care of our patients, while educating and mentoring the next generation of orthopaedic leaders: • Center for Joint Preservation and Replacement – Will enable our nationally renowned surgeons to provide the best care possible and to pursue research to enhance the field.

• Comprehensive Spine Center – Will provide excellent care for patients with disorders of the cervical and lumbar spine.

• Center for Sports Medicine – Will provide excellent operative and non-operative care for professional and collegiate athletes and will serve as a national hub for research on injury prevention and management.

• Bioskills Laboratory – Will enable medical students and residents to improve their surgical skills and faculty to develop new procedures.

To learn more, please contact Paulette Pasciuti, pasciuti@usc. edu, 323-442-1757. To make a gift online, go to keck.usc.edu/ SupportOrtho.

For Jay R. Lieberman, M.D., the rewards of his medical career – seeing a patient walk pain-free, sparking the curiosity of medical students, gaining insight into intricacies of bone repair – are a constant source of motivation, energy and passion.

“I’m blessed, there has never been a day that I’m not excited to come to work,” he says.

An internationally recognized clinician and researcher specializing in total joint replacement, Lieberman was named professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC in September. He is also orthopaedist-in-chief at Keck Medical Center of USC, director of the USC Institute of Orthopaedics, and chief of orthopaedics at the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center.

A native New Yorker, Lieberman comes to the Keck School from the University of Connecticut Health Center, where he was professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and director of the New England Musculoskeletal Institute. He succeeds Michael J. Patzakis, M.D., who retired after 21 years as chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at USC. Lieberman, a leading authority on total joint arthroplasty (surgical repair or replacement) and the treatment of osteonecrosis (bone death) of the hip, speaks with great excitement about joining USC. “For me, it’s about the pursuit of excellence,” says Lieberman. “USC has a long history of excellence, and we want to build on that legacy. We want to be the best in providing cutting-edge patient care, developing translational research and new therapies, and educating and inspiring the next generation of leaders in medicine.”

USC’s Department of Orthopaedic Surgery is one of the most extensive in the nation, offering expertise in every major orthopaedic specialty, including sports medicine; joint preservation and replacement; elbow and

shoulder reconstruction; spinal care and surgery; and foot, ankle and hand surgery.

One of Lieberman’s top priorities is developing centers of excellence within the department. For example, the USC Center for Sport Medicine’s highly experienced physicians are the official doctors of USC Trojan athletics, including USC football and basketball. They are working with the athletic department to further integrate the programs.

Physicians at the department’s Center for Joint Preservation and Replacement apply the latest technologies, including robotic surgery, to restore mobility and function to patients with even the most complex problems. Special pain management protocols have been implemented to enhance recovery and minimize discomfort.

“Dr. Lieberman is a distinguished clinician- scientist who has a proven track record as a dynamic clinical program builder,” says Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the Keck School.

His career is marked by curiosity, a relentless urge to do more for his patients and to push the boundaries of his research. A pioneer in musculoskeletal gene therapy to promote bone repair, Lieberman is the principal investigator for a National Institutes of Health-funded study on the use of gene therapy to heal critical-sized bone defects.

In 2015 Lieberman will assume the presidency of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons.

In 2011 he received the Marshall R. Urist Award for Excellence in Tissue Regeneration Research from the Orthopaedic Research Society, and in 2012 he received the prestigious Kappa Delta Elizabeth Winston Lanier Award for Outstanding Orthopaedic Research.

Lieberman says he is happy to be back in Los Angeles, where he lived for 15 years while a professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. An ardent sports fan, Lieberman relishes attending Trojans, Lakers and Dodgers games with his wife and three children.

To make an appointment, call 1-800-USC-CARE.

Jay R. Lieberman

Photo by Philip Channing

Support Orthopaedic Surgery

The arrival of Jay R. Lieberman, M.D., as the new chair of orthopaedic surgery enhances an already strong department By Elena F. Epstein

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Stratos Christianakis leads a team of specialists in caring for Elizabeth Wu, who has lupus.

World-Class Medicine Expands

Photo by Philip Channing

Keck Medical Center of USC Pasadena offers multidisciplinary care in the San Gabriel Valley

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By Candace Pearson

Elizabeth Wu used to run marathons and travel extensively overseas – before she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease last spring. Now the 31-year-old has gone from seeing her primary care physician once a year to having at least one medical appointment a week as she deals with the impact of systemic lupus erythematosus. keck.usc.edu KeckMedicine 17

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W O R L D - C L A S S medicine e x pands

The USC Norris Infusion Center offers comfortable recliners and individual televisions for patients.

– Indira Rollins, director, ambulatory operations

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Norris Chair in Medicine; and the Hastings Foundation Professor in Medicine, says, “Within the Pasadena center, we can easily collaborate with USC faculty and community physician colleagues. Our patients benefit from having such high-level, multidisciplinary care readily available.”

The atmosphere at the Pasadena facility is serene and professional, epitomized by the use of sustainable woods and a soothing water sculpture. A patient navigator system ensures complete care coordination. “We are dedicated to providing a gold standard of customer service,” says Indira Rollins, director, ambulatory operations.

In addition to examination and consultation rooms, the facility offers stress/echo and stress/treadmill testing, along with three state-of-the-art rooms for colorectal, urological and surgical procedures. For oncology patients, an on-site infusion center features nine infusion chairs, plus a pharmacy and laboratory, eliminating the need for patients to visit separate locations for testing or treatment.

“These satellite facilities allow us to bring state-of-theart cancer care and our extensive portfolio of clinical trials to the community,” says Stephen Gruber, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., director, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the H. Leslie Hoffman and Elaine S. Hoffman Chair in Cancer Research. “This service extends our expertise, builds our relationship with our community oncology partners and provides patients with improved access to cutting-edge research.”

With treatment, Wu’s heart and lungs are now stronger, but her kidney function remains a concern. “This is the first time I’ve gone through something like this, so each medical encounter makes a difference,” she says. “Everyone at USC has made this experience more comfortable for me.”

To make an appointment at Keck Medical Center of USC Pasadena, call 626-568-1622.

Photos by Philip Channing

“We are dedicated to providing a gold standard of customer service.”

Lupus can affect any part of the body, in particular the skin, joints, brain, heart, lungs and kidneys, so Wu has seen an entire team of specialists, led by Stratos Christianakis, M.D., rheumatologist and assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Many of Wu’s appointments take place at the new Keck Medical Center of USC Pasadena, which is convenient to her Alhambra home and her work in Rosemead as a field human resources manager for Panda Restaurant Group. Wu alternates with visits to USC’s Health Sciences campus. “It’s wonderful that USC offers patients that flexibility,” she says.

Keck Medical Center of USC Pasadena is home to 40-plus physicians who practice more than 15 specialties, including cardiovascular medicine, neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, rheumatology, surgery and urology.

The 22,000-square-foot, beautifully appointed facility opened in April and occupies the entire top floor of the four-story Huntington Pavilion at 625 S. Fair Oaks Avenue. The new location is USC’s largest specialty physicians’ office outside of its Health Sciences campus.

“We are leveraging every opportunity we have to take our brand of medicine into the community, through clinical partnerships or satellite facilities such as this one,” says Thomas E. Jackiewicz, M.P.H., senior vice president and CEO for USC Health.

Physicians at the Pasadena location agree. “This facility gives us the opportunity to see our patients near their homes and to create bridges with our community partners,” says Vaughn A. Starnes, M.D., chair, Department of Surgery at the Keck School; chief of surgery, Keck Medical Center of USC; and the H. Russell Smith Foundation Chair for Cardiovascular Thoracic Research.

Edward Crandall, M.D., Ph.D., chair, Department of Medicine at the Keck School; the Kenneth T.

Breast Cancer Trailblazers

Photos by Philip Channing

Clinical trials play a crucial role in transforming promising lab discoveries into beneficial bedside therapies By Carrie St. Michel “So many women are affected by breast cancer, and if there was something that I could do to help, I really wanted to do that,” says Lois Rosby.

That “something” for Rosby turned out to be participating in a clinical trial at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital. An office manager at the USC School of Social Work, Rosby was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in September 2009. Two months later, the Los Angeles resident – who already had undergone a left lumpectomy and was receiving chemotherapy – enrolled in a USC Norris clinical trial testing an existing drug, Zoledronate, for a new purpose: preventing breast cancer recurrence.

Rosby’s altruistic motivation strikes at the core of clinical trials. “Participating in a trial isn’t always going to benefit the patient – particularly if they’re randomized into a group that doesn’t receive treatment – but trials always are an opportunity for patients to help those who come after them,” explains Debasish (Debu) Tripathy, M.D., co-leader of USC Norris’ Women’s Cancer Program.

Clinical trials also offer the opportunity for early access to promising new treatments. Rosby, for instance, received Zoledronate infusions for nearly three years, and – although it’s not yet clear if the drug can be credited entirely – her breast cancer has not recurred.

“Patients additionally receive the best standard of care, along with more follow-up than they usually would, because clinical trials have strict protocols,” notes Tripathy, who also is the Priscilla and Art Ulene Chair in Women’s Cancer and professor, division of oncology, in the Department of Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. USC Norris has long been a clinical-trial leaderca leadership position that stretches back to 1973, when it was named by the National Cancer Institute as one of the first eight comprehensive cancer centers nationwide.

USC Norris conducts pioneering clinical trials across the cancer spectrum and is especially active in the battle against breast cancer.

In fact, more than 20 breast cancer-related clinical trials currently are under way – all of them are accepting participants. With focus ranging from prevention to early detection and diagnosis to novel treatments, the promising trials include, among others:

• P reventive power of soy – Anna Wu, Ph.D., professor of preventive medicine, is investigating if soy lowers breast cancer risk among high-risk women.

• Agents assisting chemotherapy – As part of a national trial called I-SPY 2, USC Norris Enjoying yoga, USC employee Lois Rosby attributes her recovery from breast cancer to a clinical trial.

– under Tripathy’s direction – is following patients with larger tumors. In addition to standard chemotherapy, these women are receiving a spectrum of new biologically targeted agents designed to increase chemotherapy’s effectiveness prior to surgery and to discover new biological insights that could lead to better diagnosis and treatment.

• M ore efficient drug delivery – Taking part in an international clinical trial called the Beacon Study, Agustin Garcia, M.D., associate professor of medicine, is comparing the effectiveness of a uniquely formulated drug – NKTR102 – to standard drugs used for advanced breast cancer.

Garcia served as a lead investigator in early phase trials with promising results.

• I mproving imaging – Linda Hovanessian-Larsen, M.D., associate professor of radiology, is heading a clinical trial examining if a new PET imaging agent provides better prognostic information than standard imaging.

• P enetrating the blood-brain barrier – Tripathy also is the primary investigator for a clinical trial testing a new drug engineered to more effectively penetrate the blood-brain barrier. Participants are breast cancer patients with brain metastases.

• A nti-nausea patch – Garcia also leads a trial analyzing the effectiveness of a new anti-nausea patch for patients undergoing chemotherapy. Another component of the trial focuses on which patients are most likely to experience nausea.

Debashish (Debu) Tripathy says USC Norris’ breast cancer clinical trials program is strong because of a multidisciplinary team committed to improving and extending patients’ lives.

For more information about clinical trials, contact the USC Norris Clinical Investigation Support Office, 323-865-0451, or uscnorriscancer.usc.edu/CLTrials. keck.usc.edu KeckMedicine 19

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H A Z A R D O U S TO YO U R H E A LT H

Hazardous to Your Health

In Southern California and throughout the world, researchers from the Keck School of Medicine are defining the hazards of air pollution and advocating ways to reduce risks By Linda Kossoff

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Photo by Phillip Channing

Rob McConnell, Andrea Hricko, and others in the Department of Preventive Medicine help educate the public about effects of traffic-related pollution on health.

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Samet photo by Don Milici; Zhang photo by Alison Trinidad

From Beijing to Los Angeles, air pollution hits the most vulnerable populations the hardest, including children and the elderly. Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC are not only learning more about that impact, but are also offering real-world solutions for reducing it.

One of the largest ongoing efforts to study the effects of air pollution on health is the USC Children’s Health Study, which has documented the effects of pollution on more than 12,000 children over a 20-year period.

The study was initially developed and led by the late John Peters, D.Sc., former director of the Environmental Health Division in the Department of Preventive Medicine. For the last decade, Frank D. Gilliland, M.D., Ph.D., Hastings Professor of Preventive Medicine and director of the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center, has spearheaded the research.

Among the many important findings from the Children’s Health Study, researchers demonstrated that children growing up in areas of higher pollution “have a substantial deficit in lung development” compared to their peers living in areas of lower pollution. Also at risk are children playing outdoor sports, those diagnosed with asthma or wheezy airways and those born to women exposed to toxic traffic emissions.

These findings have helped shape regulations of emissions and ever-lower state and federal air quality standards to protect the public’s health.

“People are generally aware of things for which they have symptoms,” Gilliland explains. “Ozone, for instance, used to cause sore throat and chest tightness at the high levels once present in Southern California. But there has been a successful, science-based approach over the last few decades to reduce levels of nitrogen oxide and ozone, so we don’t have the same elevated levels we’ve had in the past.”

With obvious symptoms diminished, “we’ve been investigating if current concentrations are still affecting health,” Gilliland says. “We find that even with the levels below those that cause symptoms, air pollutants have a health impact, especially on children and the elderly.”

The global implications of air pollution research are clearly evident in a study conducted during the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Led by Keck School professor of environmental and global health Junfeng ( Jim) Zhang, Ph.D., the study revealed the cardiovascular benefits of reduced exposure to air pollution during the Beijing Olympics among young, healthy people living in the Beijing area. The results of the study

appeared in 2012 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the most widely circulated medical journal in the world.

Recognizing the expertise at the Keck School, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently tapped Ed Avol, M.S., professor of clinical preventive medicine and deputy director of the Children’s Health Study, for a videoconference with parents employed by the American Embassy in Beijing and with staff of the schools attended by their children.

“There’s no escaping the fact that pollution is extremely high in many cities around the world, especially in Beijing,” Avol said. “It’s incredibly high by U.S. standards.”

Children are particularly at risk for effects of air pollution, Avol said, because of a combination of circumstances.

They have more exposure because they spend more time outdoors and have higher breathing rates because they are more active than adults. The fact that children are still growing makes them more susceptible to effects of exposure.

N ew D iscoveries

A related study released in September showed that at least 8 percent of the more than 300,000 cases of childhood asthma in Los Angeles County can be attributed to traffic-related pollution affecting those living in homes within 75 meters (a little less than 250 feet) of busy roadways.

“Our findings suggest that there are large and previously unappreciated public health consequences of air pollution in Los Angeles County and probably other metropolitan areas with large numbers of children living near major traffic corridors,” said Rob McConnell, M.D., professor of preventive medicine.

“There is also emerging evidence that other diseases may be caused or exacerbated by urban air pollution, including atherosclerosis, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and neurological disorders,” McConnell added.

Perhaps one of the most startling discoveries comes from Heather Volk, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of preventive medicine, who also holds joint appointments with the Department of Pediatrics and the Zilkha Neu-

Jonathan Samet, left, heads the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. Junfeng ( Jim) Zhang led a study on the cardiovascular impact of air pollution in Beijing.

For video about the Beijing study, see keck.usc. edu/Beijing.

keck.usc.edu KeckMedicine 21

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H A Z A R D O U S TO YO U R H E A LT H

Ed Avol consults on a videoconference with the EPA and American Embassy employees in Beijing.

rogenetic Institute. Volk’s latest research indicates that living within 300 meters of a major freeway doubles the risk of autism.

“The USC environmental health group already had such fantastic research on pollution that it struck me that we had no idea whether pollution could affect the brain,” she says. “And we’re constantly hearing that there are more kids being diagnosed with autism. Knowing that pollution causes inflammation in the body, and that kids with autism have higher rates of immune problems and evidence of inflammation, we decided to study the relationship between air pollution and autism.

“It makes sense with what we know about pollution,” Volk says. “The levels decrease when you move beyond that 300 meters, so our finding on autism corresponded with earlier research.”

The work and influence of USC researchers continues to expand. Jonathan Samet, M.D., M.S., founding director of the USC Institute for Global Health, chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine and head of the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, has more than 30 years in the field – previously at Johns Hopkins and now at USC. He is an authority on such topics as the adverse effects of tobacco smoking on human health and the health risks of daily exposure to particles in the environment. His work with the EPA committee has resulted in a recommendation for more stringent soot standards.

M aking a D ifference

Because of their policy consequences, there is a call for data from environmental studies like the Children’s Health Study to be made public. Samet agrees, particularly when it comes to pollution, which has sweeping effects that are often not readily apparent.

Researchers can bring about positive change to public practices and policies. For example, at the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center Andrea Hricko, M.P.H., is professor of clinical

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KeckMedicine

Frank Gilliland, left, has led the Children’s Health Study for the past decade. Research by Heather Volk has connected air pollution with autism. For video about the autism study, see keck.usc.edu/autismstudy.

| winter 2013 Issue

preventive medicine and director of the Community Outreach and Education Program. A former Emmywinning television news producer, Hricko is nationally known for her work on ensuring that health is a consideration in transportation decision-making.

In a recent presentation to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, she said, “The community is concerned about environmental health risks related to international trade through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. These are the largest ports in America and are often described as the economic engine of Southern California,with 40 percent of the entire nation’s goods transported through their facilities.” Hricko told her audience that community involvement has helped shift the policy debate about traffic pollution and transportation projects to take into consideration the health and environmental impacts from the multiple sources of air pollution.

“Because of our work,” says Gilliland, “health is now also a consideration in decision-making about building schools next to major roadways. We provide the research and translation that will allow emerging issues to be addressed before they cause adverse health effects.”

And the future looks bright. Samet is encouraged by the broad popularity of the university’s academic offerings on public health and global health. “The undergraduates are really interested in global health,” he says.

“Many people recognize the interconnectedness of us all.”

Gilliland adds, “We must have a strong training component so we can help the next generation of scientists carry on and ensure that science is part of the world’s decisionmaking about environmental issues. That’s what keeps us going. We want a future for our kids and grandkids that includes a healthy environment.”

Photo by Gus Ruelas (left); Photo courtesy of Frank Gilliland, M.D., Ph.D. (center); Photo by Don Milici (right)

F E AT U R E

F E AT U R E

Keck in the News

Photos by Philip Channing (left and center); Photo by Jon Nalick (right) Photo by Van Urfalian Photos this page: Don Milici

The Wall Street Journal highlighted work by Leslie Saxon, who uses wireless medical devices to monitor the health of her patients.

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez included his orthopaedic surgeon, Daniel Oakes, in a column about Lopez’ knee replacement surgery, and quoted Oakes about the need for joint-replacement surgeons in the United States.

Parade Magazine featured tips from Bradley Hudson on how to talk to children about the mass shooting in Aurora, Colo. “If your young child is a preschooler or younger and hearing the news again and again, he may not realize this is a singular event,” Hudson said. “He may think the event is repeating. It’s important to emphasize that the event is over.”

Every week the news media cover stories from the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Here is a sampling of coverage. For complete listings see www.usc.edu/uscnews/usc_in_the_news/.

The Hollywood Reporter, Business Journals and Renal Business Today covered the creation of the USC/UKRO Kidney Research Center at the Keck School. The new research center will conduct both basic and applied research.

The Boston Globe and Washington Post, in an Associated Press story, noted that Carmen A. Puliafito, dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC, was part of an international scientific team to win the Champalimaud Foundation’s annual Vision Award.

The Los Angeles Times, Reuters, CNN, ABC News and other media outlets covered an open-heart surgery performed by Vaughn Starnes on a child actor who had appeared in a Darth Vader mask in a car commercial.

The surgery was performed at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles on 7-yearold Max Page, who was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect.

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Valente

The Los Angeles Times, HealthDay, The Atlantic, Voice of America and other media outlets featured research

by Thomas Valente on how social networks can be used for health education. “If I want to go into a high school and change physical activity or other obesity behaviors, I have to understand there are cliques and subgroups of students that exhibit different risks,” Valente said. “I would design different interventions for the different groups.”

The New York Times, NBC News’ “Today Show,” HealthDay and Fox News Radio were among media outlets internationally to feature research

by V. Wendy Setiawan finding that women who have their last child at 30 or older lower their risk of endometrial cancer compared to women who give birth to their last child before 25.

ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” the Los Angeles Times, CBS News, NBC News, Men’s Fitness and other media outlets around the world featured research led by Victoria Cortessis, which found that recreational marijuana use may increase the risk of testicular cancer. The study found men with a history of cocaine use had lower testicular cancer rates.

The Washington Post, in an Associated Press story, U.S. News & World Report, and WebMD were among several outlets to cite a study commentary written by Lon Schneider regarding the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease with ginkgo biloba.

The Hollywood Reporter featured a

$3 million gift to USC’s Center for Applied Molecular Medicine, directed

by David Agus. The gift made by Viacom Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone will fund cancer research.

Daily Variety covered a fundraising event that benefitted the USC Institute of Urology, led by Inderbir Gill. DreamWorks executive Jeff Small, a kidney cancer survivor, hosted the event, which featured stars Octavia Spencer, William Hurt, Beau Bridges and entertainment from “Glee’s” Matthew Morrison. The event raised $1 million.

Stern

The Huffington Post, KPCC Radio, MSNBC, Asian News International and other media outlets worldwide featured a study by Mariana Stern and colleagues, finding that the type and preparation method of meat in a man’s diet may affect his prostate cancer risk. Pan-fried meat, and hamburger in particular, seem to increase risk.

Hudson keck.usc.edu KeckMedicine 23

The more than 500 faculty physicians of the Keck School of Medicine of USC are among the nation’s leaders in innovative clinical care, research and education of future physicians. They provide

The new name in world-class medicine

care in a wide range of medical specialties from the most complex diagnoses and treatments to primary care for the entire family.

The Keck Medical Center of USC brings hope back to health care, connecting patients with some of the brightest medical minds in the country.

Photo by Philip Channing

To learn more or to make an appointment, call 1-800-USC-CARE or visit KeckMedicalCenterofUSC.org.

Find a USC physician: 1-800-USC-CARE

USC Westside Center for Diabetes 150 N Robertson Blvd., Suite 210 Beverly Hills, CA 90211 310-657-3030

Downtown

Doheny Eye Institute 1450 San Pablo Street Los Angeles, CA 90033 323-442-6335

333 South Hope Street, Suite C-145 Los Angeles, CA 90071 213-437-1000

Keck Medic al Center of USC DRIVING DIRECTIONS

La Cañada Flintridge

101 South 10 East The Doheny Eye Institute is recognized as1. Exit at Soto Street and turn left.

1. Transition to 10 east.

1751 Foothill Boulevard, Suite 3 2. Exit at State Street /Soto Street. a world leader in basic and clinical vision2. Turn left on Alcazar Street.

LaonCañada CA 91011 3. Proceed across State Street onto the 3. Turn left San PabloFlintridge, Street. research and advanced patient care. on ramp, and bear right to exit at 323-442-9700 10 West Soto Street.

Faculty physicians from the Keck School 1. Exit at Soto Street and turn right.

4. Turn left on Soto Street.

2. Turn left on Alcazar Street.

5. Turn left on Alcazar Street. of Medicine of USC provide outpatient 3. Turn leftPasadena on San Pablo Street.

6.Turn left on San Pablo Street. services for a variety of vision-related 5 South North or South Our new location offers multiple710 specialties, provid1. Transition to 10 west. conditions. Additional locations include:1. Exit at Mission Road and turn left.

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Beverly Hills 310-601-3366

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ingon convenient access to optimal patient care.

2. Turn right Zonal Avenue.

2. Exit at Soto Street and turn right.

3. Turn left on San Pablo Street.

3. Turn left on Alcazar Street.

625 S. Fair Oaks Avenue, Suite 400 4. Turn left on San Pablo Street.

Pasadena 5 North Pasadena, 1. Transition to 10 east. CA 91105 Huntington Drive 626-395-0778 2. Exit at Soto Street and turn left.

1. Follow Huntington Drive west 626-568-1622 3. Turn left on Alcazar Street. until it divides into Mission Road Rancho Mirage 4. Turn left on San Pablo Street. and Soto Street.

2. Bear left onto Soto Street and proceed 760-325-2069 to Alcazar Street. Turn right.

3. Turn left on San Pablo Street.

aF wy

USC Norris Cancer Hospital is affiliated with USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of only 40 centers in the United States designated as “comprehensive” by the National Cancer Institute. Clinical researchers are leaders in the development of novel therapies for the disease. USC Norris Cancer Hospital offers advanced treatments in an intimate setting. Specially trained staff strive to meet the unique needs of cancer patients and their loved ones.

USC Institute of Urology 323-865-3700

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1441 Eastlake Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90033 1-800-700-3956

USC Norris Westside Cancer Center 310-272-7640

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USC Norris Cancer Hospital

USC Doheny Eye Center 310-601-3366

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Keck Hospital of USC is a private, 411-bed referral, teaching and research hospital staffed by faculty physicians of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Combining sophisticated technology with genuine concern for you and your family, the hospital offers advanced medicine and compassionate care. Among the hospital’s advanced services are neurointerventional radiology, minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery, robotic surgery and interventional cardiology. Surgical specialties include organ transplantation and neurosurgery, as well as cardiothoracic, bariatric, esophageal, orthopaedic, and plastic and reconstructive surgeries.

9033 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Private practice offices for many USC faculty physicians are located at Healthcare Consultation Centers (HCC) I & II adjacent to Keck Hospital of USC. These facilities give patients easy access to family medicine, gynecology, urology, orthopaedics, psychiatry, cardiothoracic surgery, head and neck surgery, otolaryngology, and neurology and neurosurgery.

HCC I features an outpatient pharmacy.

HCC II features the CardioVascular Thoracic Institute and diagnostic imaging, including MRI, PET and CT.

na

1500 San Pablo Street Los Angeles, CA 90033 1-888-700-5700

Beverly Hills

ad e

(Formerly USC University Hospital)

1510 San Pablo Street (HCC I) & 1520 San Pablo Street (HCC II) Los Angeles, CA 90033 1-800-USC-CARE

Pa s

Keck Hospital of USC

We also have several satellite locations.

Healthcare Consultation Centers I & II

11 0

Call to schedule your appointment at these locations on the USC Health Sciences Campus.

Spotlight 1. Keck School of Medicine of USC Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., left, and David Ginsburg, M.D., right, the James V. Neel Distinguished University Professor of Internal Medicine and Human Genetics at the University of Michigan Medical School, congratulate Stephen B. Gruber, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., at his installation as the fifth director and the first clinician-scientist to lead the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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2. Yohualli Balderas-Medina celebrates commencement with her parents, Agripina and Enrique.

3. Henri Ford, M.D., vice dean for medical education, cloaks Betsi Crow, first-year student, at the Keck School’s white coat ceremony.

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4. Noah Swann spikes the ball in a volleyball game at a party for returning Keck School students at Dean Puliafito’s home.

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5. Nobel laureate Eric Kandel, M.D., presents a lecture on his memory research to a packed audience at Mayer Auditorium. A University Professor at Columbia University, Kandel presented the USC Irene McCulloch Distinguished Lecture in Neuroscience.

6. Former USC Norris patient Dikla Benzeevi models clothes at the fall fashion presentation at Bloomingdale’s Sherman Oaks. Ten percent of purchases made after the show were designated for the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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Continuing Medical Education Perinatal Medicine 2013 Date: February 17-20, 2013 Location: Hyatt Regency Maui, Kaanapali Beach, Maui, Hawaii Fees: $745 – M.D./D.O.; $645 – R.N./Midwifes/Allied Health Credit: 20 – AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM Innovations in Medical Education Date: February 23-24, 2013 Location: To be determined Fees: USC Health Sciences Campus Credit: 13 – AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM

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KeckMedicine

| Winter 2013 Issue

41st Annual USC Diagnostic and Therapeutic Skills in Internal Medicine Date: March 18-22, 2013 Location : Grand Wailea Resort, Wailea, Maui, Hawaii Fee : To be determined Credit : To be determined – AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM 20th Annual Trauma, Emergency Surgery and Surgical Critical Care Symposium Dates : May 16-17, 2013 Location : Langham Huntington Hotel, Pasadena, CA Fees : M.D./D.O./Pharmacist - $395 Resident/Fellow/R.N./Allied Health – $295 Credit : 14 - AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM

Frequent rounds, conferences, presentations and journal clubs are available in numerous departments of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. For information, visit keck.usc.edu/cme and click on Regularly Scheduled Series.

Contact the USC Continuing Medical Education Office at: TELEPHONE: 323-442-2555 or 800-USC-1119 E-MAIL : usccme@usc.edu

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Photo 1 by Brian Morri; Photos 2, 3 and 4 by Lisa Brook; Photo 5 by Jon Nalick; Photo 6 by Valerie Zapanta

Joyous events enrich the life of the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the Keck Medical Center of USC.

Development News for the Keck Medicine Initiative

Winter 2013

Keck Medicine Initiative 25% toward goal in two years

By Susan Wampler

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goal for Keck Medicine

“The Keck Medicine Initiative is off to a great start,” said Melany Duval, associate vice president of health sciences development. “We have received nearly $190 million in endowment for faculty and research programs alone.” (See related story, page 2.)

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In just two years, with more than $375 million in gifts and pledges, the Keck Medicine Initiative has reached 25 percent of its goal of $1.5 billion in new funding to advance research, enrich medical education, enhance patient care and strengthen the infrastructure of USC’s academic medical enterprise. This multi-year fundraising effort is the largest component of The Campaign for the University of Southern California, representing a quarter of the university’s overall campaign goal.

$375 million raised to date

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Dollars Raised in Millions

She noted that this support will allow Keck Medicine to attract transformative faculty of the caliber of recent recruits Stephen B. Gruber, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center; Andrew P. McMahon, Ph.D., director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC and chair of the new Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine; and Berislav V. Zlokovic, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute.

“Such faculty push the boundaries of science, inspire our students and develop breakthroughs to help patients here and around the world,” she added.

Helping exceptional students pursue careers in medicine without incurring a massive debt load – now averaging nearly $200,000 – is another key priority. Each year, the Keck School of Medicine trains about 700 medical students, 300 doctoral students, 700 master’s students and approximately 200 postdoctoral scholars in 27 departments, not to mention more than 900 residents and fellows in 56 specialty and subspecialty programs.

“Scholarship support for our students, as well as funding that enhances the quality of the education we provide them, benefits not only these talented individuals, but also the many patients they will care for throughout their careers,” said Duval.

The Keck Medicine Initiative also includes plans for significant new patient care facilities. During 2013, ground will be broken for the Norris Healthcare Consultation Center, which will be dedicated entirely to the direct care of cancer patients. This building and future capital projects will provide patients with access to the most advanced care, treatments and cures, while facilitating research by physicians and specialists. Keck Medicine also will expand its presence and breadth into additional communities in greater Los Angeles.

“Our goals enable Keck Medicine to better identify major health advancement opportunities, make leading-edge discoveries and translate those discoveries into improved health for patients,” added Duval.

To date, gifts to the initiative have come from trustees, alumni, parents, friends, foundations, corporations, faculty and staff. “Gifts of all sizes are invaluable, and we have a wide range of giving opportunities,” she said.

“To succeed, we will need every individual to join us in this collective effort,” said USC President C. L. Max Nikias, Ph.D. “Together, we will not only rewrite the history of this school, we will also reshape the future of medicine.”

For more information, please contact Melany Duval, melany.duval@med.usc.edu, 323-442-1531. To make a gift online, go to keck.usc.edu/Donate.

Advancing Keck Medicine 1A

fundraising initiative

By Imelda Valenzuela Fowler

Melany Duval has been named university advancement senior associate dean and associate vice president of health sciences development. In this role, she leads USC’s efforts to raise $1.5 billion for Keck Medicine of USC, the largest component of the $6 billion Campaign for USC. Duval spent the last eight years with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, most recently as vice president of development. While there, she played a leadership role in helping CHLA complete a $1 billion fundraising campaign, the largest fundraising achievement ever by a freestanding hospital in North America.

“Melany has worked in fundraising for 22 years, and the university will greatly benefit from her experience at this critical time in its history,” said William (Bill) Watson, vice president for USC Health Sciences campus development.

Duval oversees the comprehensive fundraising and alumni and donor relations programs for Keck Medicine of USC, which includes the Keck School of Medicine of USC (including the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and related USC Health Sciences’ research centers and affiliates) and the Keck Medical Center of USC, comprising Keck Hospital of

Melany Duval

2A

USC, USC Norris Cancer Hospital and the USC physician practices.

Duval reports to Watson and to Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., dean of the Keck School.

“Our plans to raise $1.5 billion for medicine as part of The Campaign for USC will require ambitious and creative strategic development efforts that engage all of the Trojan Family in the university’s vision for the future of medicine,” said Puliafito.

“Melany is exceptionally qualified to lead these efforts.”

Prior to CHLA, Duval was assistant vice president for development and campaign director at Loyola Marymount University, where she previously earned her bachelor of arts in political science and business administration.

“I’m excited to leverage my advancement knowledge and experience to help Keck Medicine of USC achieve its ambitious fundraising goals,” said Duval. “Reaching these goals will allow Keck Medicine to better identify major health advancement opportunities, make leading-edge discoveries and translate those discoveries into improved health for patients.”

To make a donation, see keck.usc. edu/Donate or call 323-442-1531.

Foundation donates

$6 million for stroke clinic

By Imelda Valenzuela Fowler

Before her death at age 95, Roxanna Todd Hodges, who endured three strokes in her lifetime, had a goal of providing training, education and support for survivors of stroke and their family members. Her vision was achieved through a $6 million gift that her foundation committed to establish the Roxanna Todd Hodges Comprehensive Stroke Clinic and the Roxanna Todd Hodges Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) Program.

“This is an extraordinary gift,” said Keck School of Medicine of USC Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., at a recognition reception held at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute. “It is a devastating situation to have a stroke. I will do whatever I can to make these programs successful and ones that the Roxanna Todd Hodges Foundation can be very proud of.”

Nerses Sanossian, M.D., assistant professor of neurology and associate director of the neurocritical care/stroke section at USC, serves as director for both the stroke clinic and the TIA program. “Stroke is the leading cause of disability in this country,” he said. “Yet stroke is an entirely preventable disease. We aim to reduce the burden of stroke in southern California through prevention and education.”

More than 2,600 stroke-related visits occur each year at the Keck Medical Center of USC. The stroke clinic provides a multidisciplinary approach to the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients experiencing stroke or acute neurological events and related conditions. The clinic encompasses outpatient care, inpatient care and research.

The TIA program focuses on preventing stroke. Commonly known as a “mini-stroke,” a TIA refers to the temporary disturbance of the blood supply to the brain, which often results in a sudden and brief reduction in brain function. TIA is an early warning of an impending stroke.

Also speaking at the reception was Deborah Massaglia, president of the Roxanna Todd Hodges Foundation and a close friend of Hodges. “I know that Roxie would be extremely proud and honored to have these centers in her name,” she said, using Hodges’ nickname.

The inaugural Roxanna Todd Hodges Visiting Lectureship in Stroke Prevention and Education was given by Bruce Ovbiagele, M.D., M.Sc., professor of neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego, who spoke in July at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute on the relationship between chronic kidney disease and stroke.

From left: USC physicians Nerses Sanossian, M.D., and Helena Chui, M.D., chair of the Department of Neurology; Deborah Massaglia, president of the Roxanna Todd Hodges Foundation; and Keck School of Medicine of USC Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A.

Photo by Lisa Brook (left); Photo by Brian Morri (right)

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Duval leads $1.5 billion health

V I S I T us keck .usc.edu

$75,000 gift helps target adult heart cell regeneration

By Amy E. Hamaker

Human heart tissue, unlike many other tissues in the body, has an extremely limited ability to regenerate, which is why coronary disease can be so deadly. A recent $75,000 gift from the Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation is helping researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC better understand the limitations of adult heart cells and develop targets for improved regeneration through the use of embryonic heart cells.

From left: Keck School of Medicine of USC Dean Carmen A. Puliafito; Kenneth Kleinberg, founder of UKRO; singer/ songwriter Natalie Cole; and Vito M. Campese, chair of the Keck School’s division of nephrology.

$3.5 million gift establishes USC/UKRO Kidney Research Center

By Amy E. Hamaker

Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision

The Keck School of Medicine of USC and the University Kidney Research Organization (UKRO) announced the establishment of the USC/UKRO Kidney Research Center at the Keck School.

The new center was created with the help of a gift pledging $3.5 million from UKRO, a Los Angelesbased nonprofit group that supports medical research concerning the causes, improved treatments for, and prevention of kidney disease. At the announcement, entertainment lawyer and UKRO founder Kenneth Kleinberg said he was inspired to raise awareness and funds for kidney research after suffering from a kidney ailment in 1999, leading to a kidney transplant in 2007. “I was told at the time, ‘We’ve known about [kidney disease] for years, but we don’t know what causes it,’” he said.

“The only way we can conquer kidney disease is through research.”

Singer and songwriter Natalie Cole, who attended USC briefly as a student, remembered her time as a kidney transplant patient in 2009. “Symptoms don’t always show; I found out there are so many people with kidney disease who don’t even know

they have it, and that scares me,” she said. “This moment [of creating the Kidney Research Center] is one that’s most overdue, but welcome.”

Edward Crandall, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Medicine at the Keck School, said, “With determination and perseverence, Ken Kleinberg and UKRO have really driven this initiative and helped USC make it happen.” The center will be operated as part of the Keck School’s division of nephrology in the Department of Medicine.

“This inauguration is certainly a landmark in the future of the division of nephrology and kidney research at the Keck School of Medicine, and we’re very happy to work with UKRO,” said Vito Campese, M.D., professor of medicine and chief of the division at the Keck School and chair of UKRO’s Medical Scientific Advisory Board.

Keck School of Medicine Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., said, “Millions of people in America suffer from chronic kidney disease, but with the establishment of this center, those patients now have an extra champion in the fight.”

“The heart needs to maintain output,” explained Henry Sucov, Ph.D., associate professor in the Departments of Cell and Neurobiology and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, whose project on adult cardiac muscle stem cells is the beneficiary of the gift. “If you’ve lost heart muscle cells, then the rest of the heart will compensate – but only up to a point. After that, it leads to decompensated heart failure, the leading cause of death in the Western world.

“In the lab, we’ve been studying what goes on during fetal heart development – heart muscle cells divide actively, even as they’re beating,” he continued. “Our approach is to isolate a rare population of cells in the adult heart that share some of the properties of embryonic heart muscle cells.

We can test the hypothesis that these cells that resemble the embryonic heart cells are the ones that retain the ability to divide and potentially regenerate heart muscle. If so, then we have a target to increase or improve their regenerative capacity in an injured adult patient.”

According to Sucov, experimental work so far has been done with mice, but the biology is very similar in mice and humans.

The Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation’s support of the Keck School dates back several decades. “Dr. Sucov’s work underscores the importance of investing in basic research as a means to understanding and improving the human condition,” said Janna Beling, executive vice president for the foundation.

Incorporated in 1978, the Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation promotes research, education, social justice and the arts, and aims to improve the human condition. The foundation makes grants to nonprofit organizations located primarily in California. Willard Beling, a past president of the Borchard Foundation who died in 2009 of congestive heart failure, was a former USC professor of international relations.

Advancing Keck Medicine 3A

$600,000 QueensCare gifts offer new hope for patients

By Amy E. Hamaker

Two recent gifts from QueensCare, a Los Angeles faith-based nonprofit organization, will make a real difference for indigent patients with blood disorders, allowing them to receive life-saving bone marrow transplantation treatment.

The Bone Marrow Transplantation Program at the USC Norris Cancer Hospital has received $500,000 to support inpatient treatment for patients not eligible for Medi-Cal coverage. An additional gift of $100,000 to provide transport for patients will be split between the Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Department of Surgery Transplant Institute and the Keck School Department of Medicine’s Galaxy Program. The Galaxy Health Care pilot project at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center offers consistent and timely access to primary care services based on the patient-centered medical home model.

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is often used as a cure for blood disorders such as lymphoma, acute leukemia, myelodysplasia, multiple myeloma and aplastic anemia.

“For many leukemia patients, BMT is vital,” said Vinod Pullarkat, M.D., director of the Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplantation program at USC Norris. “With modern transplantation techniques, the survival rate for those patients goes from almost nothing to 70 to 80 percent.

“But if patients don’t qualify for Medi-Cal and don’t have private insurance, there has been no other way to offer BMT to them,” he continued.

“Without QueensCare’s gift it wouldn’t be possible to offer these transplants.”

McMahon installed as

inaugural W. M. Keck Professor of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine

By Imelda Valenzuela Fowler

Andrew P. McMahon, Ph.D., newly appointed department chair of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC, is often asked why he left Harvard University’s stem cell institute to come to USC. He states one simple reason: opportunity.

“I wanted the opportunity to create something special within the emerging field of regenerative medicine,” said McMahon. “The energy and excitement of Los Angeles provide a wonderful bonus, but this was a decision deeply rooted in my training, interests and experience over 35 years and my desire to translate these things into something of great significance in a first-class university.”

McMahon was officially welcomed into his role at USC and installed as the inaugural holder of the W. M. Keck Provost Professorship of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine on Oct. 16 at a reception held on the Health Sciences campus in his honor and hosted by USC President C. L. Max Nikias, Ph.D. The endowed professorship was made possible through a gift from the W. M. Keck Foundation that renamed USC’s academic medical center and launched the $1.5 billion Keck Medicine Initiative, the largest component of The Campaign for the University of Southern California.

“Today it’s my great pleasure to officially welcome a scientist of the very highest caliber,” said Nikias, “a man who will lead USC boldly into the emerging

biotechnology revolution and help usher in the new age of innovation and discovery. That man is Dr. Andrew McMahon.”

Eli and Edythe Broad, the namesakes and lead donors of the Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC, gave $30 million toward the building’s development and were also in attendance among the crowd of about 100 people.

“Edye and I get to Cambridge often because of the Broad Institute, which is a partnership between Harvard and MIT,” said Eli Broad. “I know how sad they were to have you leave,” he told McMahon. “And I know how highly esteemed you were there. So we know that you and those whom you bring with you will bring this center to even a higher level of excellence, and we thank you for all of that.”

McMahon brought most of his lab members with him to USC, including his wife, Jill, an accomplished research scientist in her own right, who is also the lab manager.

As a commemorative gift, Nikias, Broad and Keck School Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., presented McMahon with an encased replica of a chair designed by Belgian furniture designer Maarten van Severen.

“Andy is a wonderful scientist and human being,” said Puliafito, who was instrumental in recruiting McMahon to USC. “He is a fantastic addition to our scholarly community at USC.”

“Many hardworking people do not have access to care when they need it – especially sophisticated treatments like BMT,” said Barbara Brandlin Hines, M.B.A., president and CEO of QueensCare and QueensCare Family Clinics.

“QueensCare is happy to partner with USC to bring these treatments to those who would otherwise go without.”

From left: USC President C. L. Max Nikias and USC first lady Niki Nikias, Andrew P. McMahon, Edythe and Eli Broad, and Keck School of Medicine Dean Carmen A. Puliafito.

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Photo by Steve Cohn

QueensCare provides health care to low income, uninsured individuals residing in Los Angeles through its own operations and through partnerships and collaborations with other organizations serving this population.

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$50,000 gift toward

Wasserman Foundation gives $250,000 for

otolaryngology research

By Amy E. Hamaker

Thanks to a recent $250,000 gift from the Wasserman Foundation, the Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Department of Otolaryngology -Head & Neck Surgery has new resources for research into chronic sinusitis, a condition in which the sinuses become inflamed for more than 12 weeks. More than 29.8 million adults in the United States have been diagnosed with the condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The gift will help support the research of Dale Rice, M.D., professor and former chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at the Keck School, as he and his team try to discover the role that biofilm plays in chronic sinusitis.

Biofilm is a collection of microbes that form a distinct, strong pattern. Bacteria in biofilm can be up to 1,000 times more resistant to antibiotics than bacteria outside of a biofilm structure. The CDC estimates that more than 65 percent of infections in hospitals are caused by biofilm.

Photo by Jon Nalick (top); Photo by Katie Byrnes (bottom)

“Our team is focusing on finding better ways of recognizing when biofilm is present,” said Rice, who also holds the Leon J. Tiber and David S. Alpert Chair in Medicine. “In addition, we’re starting a new study to find a way to more effectively attack biofilm than the methods that are currently available. This gift will be a much-needed boon for this research.”

Rica Orszag, executive director of the Wasserman Foundation, said, “Part of the Wasserman Foundation’s mission is to partner with organizations that provide high-quality health care. Dr. Rice’s research at USC has the potential to greatly help those who suffer from chronic rhinosinusitis, and we are happy to support him in his work.”

The Wasserman Foundation was created by the late Lew and Edie Wasserman in 1952 as a vehicle for their intense dedication to charitable giving. Although widely recognized for their prominence in Hollywood, the couple quietly became community leaders through their awareness and generosity to countless cultural, health and social issues and organizations across the country.

Keck Parents Association scholarship endowment

By Amy E. Hamaker

Service to the school where he received his start has been a way of life for George Stoneman, M.D., an associate clinical professor for the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Recently, that service took the form of a $50,000 pledge to support the full endowment of the Keck School Parents Association Endowed Scholarship Fund.

Stoneman has been a tireless worker as an alumnus of the Keck School, including the founding of the Parents Association, despite having a busy private practice. Most recently, he was recognized with a 2011 Volunteer Recognition Award for his loyalty, support and dedication to USC. “The goal for our own scholarship fund was to make it fully endowed at the $100,000 level,” said Stoneman, who received his M.D. in 1965 and performed his residency in otolaryngology at the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center.

Then Stoneman had a fortuitous meeting with his friend and Stanford fraternity brother Rafael Mendez, M.D., a recipient of scholarship support while receiving his own education.

George Stoneman

the scholarship fund and our goal,” recalled Stoneman. “Afterward, he just said, ‘Then, I’ll help you.’ I told him I’d match whatever he decided to give.” Thanks to that meeting, Mendez made a donation; Stoneman matched the donation and added to it to fully endow the fund.

Mendez, who recently retired as a professor of urology at the Keck School, has participated in or performed more than 5,000 kidney transplants since 1970. In 1984, in affiliation with the Keck School and the Daughters of Charity Health System, Mendez and his twin brother, Robert Mendez, M.D., formed the Los Angeles Transplant Institute, now known as the Mendez National Institute of Transplantation.

“We were out together with our wives one night, and I talked about

Welcome to alums Nearly 40 members of the USC Alumni Club of San Gabriel Valley gathered at Keck Medical Center of USC Pasadena for an open house and tour of the examination and procedure rooms, refreshments and to mingle with the doctors who practice there. From left are Brian Prestwich, M.D., clinical assistant professor of family medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC; Indira Rollins, director of the Keck Medical Center of USC Pasadena; and Lizelle Brandt, president of the USC Alumni Club of San Gabriel Valley.

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WunderGlo Foundation donates to GI Oncology

Baxter Foundation visit The Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation has given USC more than $10 million and recently gave the Keck School of Medicine of USC $300,000 for junior faculty research and medical student scholarships.

The latest gift will be split between Emil Kartalov, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology; Andy Chang, M.D., assistant professor of urology; and the Baxter Summer Research Program, which allows medical students to perform scientific research during the summer of their first year. Back row, from left: George Tolomiczenko, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., Richard H. Haake, Donald B. Haake and James (Jim) Russell. Front row, from left: Elizabeth M. Fini, Ph.D., Jane Haake-Russell and William Haake.

Donation helps fund testicular cancer research

By Amy E. Hamaker

When John Willis discovered that his 25-year-old son Johnny had testicular cancer, he was understandably devastated. “When something like this happens, it’s enormous, and it’s difficult to try to process it all,” he said.

Johnny knew he had a problem, but at first a local doctor and urologist did not recognize the condition.

It was the young man’s determination that led the family to Sia Daneshmand, M.D., associate professor of urology (clinical scholar) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “I’m incredibly proud of Johnny and very thankful we met Dr. Danshemand,” recalled the elder Willis. “As we went through this process, it quickly became very apparent that Dr. Daneshmand is dedicated to what he does. He’s so passionate and caring and really helped Johnny believe he would get through this. We thought, ‘What can we do to help in return?’”

That question led Willis, co-founder of tech company Interloc Solutions with Mike Watson, to make a donation of $10,000 to help Daneshmand and his team at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center fully develop a comprehensive database of clinical and tissue sample data from testicular cancer patients.

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Along with his team, Daneshmand, who is also director of urologic oncology at the USC Institute of Urology and a renowned testicular cancer expert, has developed a comprehensive institutional review board-approved database that captures clinical data for analysis. USC also houses one of the largest tissue banks for testis tumors led by previous efforts from Sue Martin, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Translational Pathology Core Facility of the Norris cancer center. The tissue bank was funded by the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The challenge now is to merge the two to better understand outcomes.

“We work collaboratively with departments of radiology, pathology, molecular epidemiology and medical oncology,” explained Daneshmand. “This helps us better understand modes of presentation, optimal treatment and follow-up regimens, and delineate specific issues related to longterm survivors of testicular cancer, including fertility and hormonal factors.

“We have a team dedicated to testis cancer research, and at any one time we have at least half a dozen ongoing projects, and funding from extramural sources is extremely limited,” he continued. “Philanthropy like the Willis/Interloc donation helps us fund research fellows whose help is invaluable in our mission.”

Lenz is professor of medicine and preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the Kathryn Balaskrishnan Chair for Cancer Research, and associate director for clinical research at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Lenz accepted the designation as a Cancer Warrior and accepted the donation from Gloria Borges, founder of the WunderGlo Foundation and a patient of Lenz.

“What makes the GI Oncology program even more special is its approach to patients – the way these doctors and nurse practitioners treat us when it’s a chemo day or a day we’re learning the results of our latest scan,” Borges said at the event.

“There is compassion without pity, professionalism without aloofness, love, friendship, and a steadfast, unyielding desire for us to be well. We are in good hands with them, and we can feel that all the time.”

The donation gives the USC GI Oncology program an important resource in its goal of finding a cure for colon cancer, Lenz said.

“Every day our patients inspire us with their courage and bravery against this disease,” he said. “Gloria Borges is one of our strongest champions, joining with us in a united front against cancer.”

To make a donation, see keck. usc.edu/GiveDrugDiscovery.

Photo by Larry Centeno (left); Photo by Jon Nalick (right)

Memorial bowl-a-thon Agustin Garcia, M.D., left, and Terry Schaefer raised money at a recent bowling event with the help of friends.

The event was organized to support the Keley Rose Schaefer Memorial Ovarian Cancer Fund in memory of Terry Schaefer’s 26-year-old daughter, who died from ovarian cancer. To date, the fund has raised more than $15,000 to support Garcia’s work at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in developing a prescreening test for ovarian cancer.

Garcia, associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, was one of Keley Rose Schaefer’s doctors.

The USC Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology program’s quest to find a cure for colon cancer got a boost when the WunderGlo Foundation presented director Heinz-Josef Lenz, M.D., with a gift of $50,000 at its first Cancer Warrior Awards dinner at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

USC NORRIS

My legacy is taking flight Howard Hatfield ‘56 has always had soaring ambitions.

Whether he was collaborating on the nation’s earliest missile launches or pursuing his passion as an amateur pilot, he dedicated a lifetime to achieving high-flying goals.

Today, his focus is equally lofty: helping the experts at USC Norris envision a world without cancer. By giving to USC through charitable gift annuities, he receives guaranteed income for life and tax benefits, while fueling the work of some of the most renowned physicians and researchers in cancer treatment and discovery. His support makes a critical difference — and his generosity and vision stretch beyond the horizon.

To learn more about charitable gift planning to benefit the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, please contact Clara Driscoll at 323.442.1346 or by email at clara.driscoll@usc.edu.

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