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Discovering Their Futures SCHOOL COMMITTED TO FOSTERING STUDENT INTEREST IN LABORATORY SCIENCE Educational excellence and innovative research are vital pillars of the School of Pharmacy’s mission to improve health. For talented undergraduates, those aspects intersect in the laboratory of Daryl Davies, associate dean for undergraduate education and professor of clinical pharmacy in the Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy. Through his watchful mentorship, they learn by partnering in discovery at a level that most peer institutions reserve for graduate students. However, this commitment to providing the finest in pharmacy education and training relies on the school’s ability to offer meaningful financial support. Scholarships have always been central to USC’s long tradition of opportunity and access and are vital to maintaining a high-achieving and diverse student population.
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Fostering Students’ Passions It can be challenging for a student to attend their first-choice university, knowing that it might mean increased student or parental loan debt, part-time jobs, and potential lost opportunities for full participation in academic and student life on campus. This can be especially true for those from lower-income and underrepresented backgrounds. The School of Pharmacy is committed to helping students explore their futures through laboratory science instead of depending on day jobs that can take crucial time away from their studies and achieving their goals. Philanthropic investment in undergraduate research scholarships can help the school add leading-edge scientific investigations to the experiences enjoyed by these gifted and motivated students.
Investing in Talent “Drug discovery—the process of identifying a disease target and then working through the process of developing new drugs—is an ever-growing field,” Davies says. “It’s one thing for undergraduate students to study basic scientific methods, discoveries and so on in a class. But it is an entirely different process to learn firsthand by building hypotheses, conducting experiments, analyzing data and all the other lab activities necessary for advancing human health.” In Davies’ lab, undergraduates aid in developing innovative pharmaceutical and natural products for treating alcohol-use disorders, liver disease and neurodegenerative conditions. They gain experience in using animal and cellular models as they see how Davies conducts studies that translate into clinical benefits. “Most importantly, it teaches them to work as a team,” Davies explains. “Science is a highly collaborative venture. And as they gain more expertise, they pass that knowledge on to new students in the lab. The mentee becomes the mentor.” In summer 2021, Davies engaged nine undergraduates in his laboratory. “It’s a huge undertaking,” he says, “but the long-term benefit to the students as future pharmacists or scientists is well worth the effort.” A new undergraduate research initiative is underway at the School of Pharmacy, with students receiving foundational training in hands-on laboratory practices and methods before they begin working in labs throughout the school. This strategy will help promote and elevate the acceptance of undergraduate students in ongoing research labs at the school. “It is a win-win situation,” Davies says. “The students gain confidence in their research capabilities. The faculty who bring these students into their labs have the confidence that they are getting well-trained, well-prepared candidates.”
