By Leslie Ridgeway

Shaul G. Massry (left) presents Keck School of Medicine Dean Carmen A. Puliafito with a check to support the Fifth-Year Research Scholars program.
Photo/Amy Hamaker

With a goal of helping young researchers launch their careers, the Meira and Shaul G. Massry Foundation has provided a $175,000 gift to the Keck School of Medicine of USC Dean’s Fifth-Year Research Scholars program.

With this gift, seven fourth-year medical students have the opportunity to focus on research projects for a year after graduation from medical school.

Fifth-year scholars receive a stipend of $25,000 each to continue their research. The $175,000 gift is $75,000 more than last year’s gift, giving three more students an opportunity for support.

“I believe that a student who has finished four years of medical school and is ready to postpone his or her career is motivated to be a scientist, and that’s critical,” said Shaul Massry, MD, professor emeritus of medicine, physiology and biophysics at the Keck School and president of the Massry Foundation. … Read More »

Paul Macklin, assistant professor of research, will speak at the American Association for the Advancement of Science ann

ual meeting, to be held Feb. 13-17 in Chicago. As part of a discussion on “big data” — data sets so large and complex that they become difficult to process using traditional applications — Macklin will present his talk, “Integrating Next-Generation Computational Models of Cancer Progression and Outcome.”

… Read More »

By Amy E. Hamaker

Don’t wear stilettos. Cultivate “om” in the office. Know your grocer. Smile.

David Agus, professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and Keck School Dean Carmen A. Puliafito discuss the rules for living a healthy life during a recent lecture in the Dean’s Distinguished Lecturer series.
Photo/Jon Nalick

These topics aren’t just good advice for living a happier life, but also a healthier one, according to David Agus, MD, professor of medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Agus and Keck School Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, MD, MBA discussed Agus’ new book A Short Guide to a Long Life as part of the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture Series on Jan. 15 in Mayer Auditorium.

The 208-page book groups 65 rules into two chapters titled “What to Do” and “What to Avoid,” followed by a chapter titled “Doctor’s Orders,” which offers advice on how to care for your health in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond. The book recently sold out of its third printing, and is on the New York Times best-seller list.

Agus explained the differences between his first book, The End of Illness, and his new book. “The End of Illness was really a science book,” noted Agus. “This is more of a how-to book. I wanted to appeal to people who don’t know what to do to prevent disease.” … Read More »

The Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation has selected the Keck School of Medicine of USC to host the 2014 Lasker Lectures featuring recipients of the 2013 Lasker Awards.

The Lasker Awards — among the most respected and coveted science prizes in the world — are given each year by the foundation for outstanding basic and clinical medical research discoveries and for lifetime contributions to medical science. The awards, which carry an honorarium of $250,000 in each category, were presented on Sept. 20, 2013, in New York City. … Read More »

By Amy E. Hamaker

The new Varian TrueBeam STx linear accelerator uses sophisticated imaging and respiration synchronization tools to visualize soft tissue during treatment and make changes accordingly.
Photo/Ryan Ball

In the fight to make cancer a disease of the past, Keck Medicine of USC has a new weapon. The Department of Radiation Oncology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC recently received a new Varian TrueBeam STx linear accelerator.

Used to perform external beam radiation treatments for patients who have cancer, linear accelerators deliver high-energy X-rays to the area of a patient’s tumor, destroying cancer cells while leaving normal cells intact. The new linear accelerator allows Keck Medicine of USC to offer the most cutting-edge intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) techniques available.

The system uses sophisticated imaging and respiration synchronization tools to visualize soft tissue during treatment and make changes accordingly. Its high-definition, multi-leaf collimator narrows the radiation beam with precision and allows physicians to provide larger doses of radiation to smaller places accurately. Treatment times are much faster. SBRT also will allow some patients, who would normally require a standard course of 30 to 40 radiation therapy treatments, to be treated in five or fewer treatments. … Read More »