By Josh Grossberg

It’s such a dreaded thing that people often refer to it only by its initial — the C word.

But at the Festival of Life on June 1, the letter stood for a lot more than cancer. There was also courage, care and mostly, celebration.

Festival participant Laurie Miller signs the Festival of Life scroll.
Photo/Lisa Brook

Hundreds of cancer survivors and their families gathered in the Harry & Celesta Pappas Quad on the Health Sciences Campus to commemorate their success in beating back the disease and to show others that they can do it too. … Read More »

The American Thoracic Society awarded its highest recognition, the Edward Livingston Trudeau Medal, to Jonathan M. Samet, professor and Flora L. Thornton Chair in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, at its annual meeting May 19. … Read More »

By Josh Grossberg

For patients and visitors to USC Norris Cancer Hospital, the effect of new photographs in the lobby can be subtle, but for the man who took the photographs, they can bring some calm to people during a very stressful time in their life.

USC Norris cancer patient Jim Martellotti displays one of his photos in the lobby of the cancer hospital.

It is a situation Jim Martellotti knows well. Not only did he take three of the framed photos strategically located in hospital’s lobby and seating areas, but he’s also a longtime cancer patient.

When the lifelong shutterbug heard the hospital was looking to decorate the lobby and some upper floors after a renovation, the 65-year-old Martellotti knew he wanted to be part of it. … Read More »

By Paul Karon

Whether producing movies that change women’s attitudes toward cervical cancer screening, or using mobile technology to keep people with diabetes out of the emergency room, public health research is complex and painstaking work. In many cases, however, the hard part is not the science, but finding the right partners and participants.

The Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI), whose mission is to speed the conversion of research into public health solutions, provides expertise and assistance that not only helps USC’s investigators conduct their research, but also benefits the university’s neighbors throughout Los Angeles and Southern California. … Read More »

By Amy E. Hamaker

Michael F. Press, the Harold E. Lee Chair in Cancer Research and professor of pathology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, was recently supported by a grant from the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation enabling him to collaborate with researchers from several other institutions on the genetics of ovarian cancer.
Courtesy Michael F. Press

Ovarian cancer frequently goes undiagnosed until it has spread, making it difficult to treat and often fatal. Research into genetic mechanisms of ovarian cancer at USC recently received a boost thanks to a grant of more than $300,000 from the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation.

Michael F. Press, the Harold E. Lee Chair in Cancer Research at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and professor of pathology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, received $317,000 for the project “Potential Assays for Patient Selection to Ovarian Cancer Clinical Trials.” Press and his collaborators will continue their work into analyzing genomic alterations and determining how those alterations can be used to map specific treatments for individual patients.  … Read More »