Verdugo Hills Hospital joins USC amid rousing celebration

Celebration and fanfare continued for USC Verdugo Hills Hospital as leaders from the organization welcomed more than 150 dignitaries from throughout the community at a reception held Aug. 19 at the Glendale, Calif., hospital, the University of Southern California’s newest addition to its growing clinical enterprise.

Following a rousing entrance by the USC Trojan marching band, USC Health Senior Vice President and CEO Tom Jackiewicz, MPH, kicked off the event with a special greeting and introduction of elected and community officials and guests and the hospital’s new CEO Debbie Walsh, RN, MSN. … Read More »

August 30th, 2013|Announcements|

Keck students inspired to think beyond borders

By Ryan Ball
Moving beyond the metropolis of Panama City and into the rural provinces, Keck School of Medicine of USC student Javier Sotelo was struck by the disparity in health-care accessibility he witnessed. He was surprised to find himself handing out emergency kits to midwives and educators, who provide primary care in areas where physician visits involve traveling several hours over dirt roads.

Sotelo was one of 32 students who studied abroad last semester as part of USC’s Master of Science in Global Medicine program. He and some classmates recently participated in the inaugural Global Citizenship Roundtable, where they shared their experiences and encouraged Keck School of Medicine of USC students to broaden their perspective.
In addition to Panama, students visited Taiwan, Honduras and India. … Read More »

August 30th, 2013|Announcements|

Patient Experience helps couple celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary

By Josh Grossberg

About to celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary, Grace and Ray Vagas weren’t going to let anything as bothersome as a hospital stay stop them. And neither was the staff at USC Norris Cancer Hospital, where Ray had been a patient for nearly a month after being diagnosed with leukemia.

When their son, Ray Vagas Jr., realized the anniversary was approaching, he knew he had to do something. He contacted the staff of the Patient Experience Program at the Keck Medical Center of USC. … Read More »

August 22nd, 2013|Announcements|

Debbie Walsh, Don Larsen appointed CEO, CMO of USC Verdugo Hills Hospital

Two new leaders will take on the management of USC Verdugo Hills Hospital. Debbie Walsh, RN, MSN, has been appointed the new CEO of USC Verdugo Hills Hospital, succeeding former CEO Len LaBella who is retiring after 12 years at Verdugo Hills Hospital.

In addition, Donald Larsen, MD, MBA, has been appointed chief medical officer for USC Verdugo. The announcements come on the heels of a hospital-wide celebration event and the transformation of Verdugo Hills Hospital as a part of Keck Medicine of USC. … Read More »

August 22nd, 2013|Announcements|

New postdoctoral scholars program announced for clinical residents and fellows

In a memo sent out recently to academic deans, faculty and staff, USC Provost Elizabeth Garrett, JD, announced the creation of a new program to enhance the “success and effectiveness of tomorrow’s health-care professionals.”

Garrett stated that she and Keck School of Medicine of USC Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, MD, MBA, worked together to create the Provost’s Postdoctoral Scholars Program for Clinical Residents and Fellows. Beginning in fall 2013, this new signature program will award qualifying senior residents and fellows at Keck Hospital of USC, LAC+USC Medical Center and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles the rights and privileges of a postdoctoral scholar at USC. Those privileges include up to 20 units of graduate tuition funding to support their education and full access to library material and facilities for their study or work. … Read More »

August 22nd, 2013|Announcements|

PT student attends signing of student loan bill at White House

By Hope Hamashige

Zuleima Hidalgo, a student in the USC Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, was in attendance at the White House on Aug. 9 when President Barack Obama signed into law a student loan reform bill.

Hidalgo, who is about to enter her second year in the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program, was one of several students asked to attend the signing. Prior to putting his signature on the legislation, Obama thanked the students who had raised their voices in support of the legislation.

“Without their voice, without their participation, we probably would not have gotten this bill done,” Obama said. … Read More »

August 22nd, 2013|Announcements|

Russell Paul Sherwin, 89

Russell P. Sherwin, MD, died peacefully at his home in Pasadena, Calif., on July 24. Sherwin served as a member of the Department of Pathology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC for 51 years. … Read More »

August 22nd, 2013|Announcements|

John Niparko tapped as president of USC Care Medical Group

John K. Niparko, MD, has been appointed to the position of president of USC Care Medical Group. Niparko will serve a two-year term, which began on July 1. He succeeds Edward Crandall, MD, chair of the Department of Medicine, who also served a two-year term. … Read More »

August 22nd, 2013|Announcements|

HANDS-ON IN STEM CELLS

James Hur (right), a student from Harvard-Westlake School, describes his research on healing radiation wounds at the USC Early Investigator High School (EiHS) & USC CIRM Science, Technology and Research (STAR) Colloquium and Poster Presentation on August 2. … Read More »

August 22nd, 2013|Announcements|

New director of electrophysiology brings love of tech to the Keck Medical Center

By Josh Grossberg
Pacemakers and defibrillators are fairly common life-saving devices these days, but when Rahul N. Doshi, MD, was getting his start in the medical profession, they both relied on fairly rudimentary technology. A self-described tech geek, Doshi knew the field of electrophysiology was on the cusp of great change, and he wanted to be part of it.

As the new director of electrophysiology at the Keck Medical Center of USC, Doshi will help guide the future of this exciting field that is advancing in ways he couldn’t have imagined.

“It’s a relatively new and fast-growing sub-subspecialty of cardiovascular medicine,” he said. “It’s very different from what the interventional cardiologists do. They look at arteries and pipes; I look at the heart’s internal wiring.” … Read More »

August 21st, 2013|Announcements|

Conference offers students insight into careers in health care

By Josh Grossberg
Students from across the country came to Los Angeles in July to get some real-world advice on careers in health care from staff at the Keck Medical Center of USC.
The USC Diversity in Healthcare Leadership Initiative connects students interested in health industry jobs that are not directly clinical. To do that, attendees focused on topics including administration and policy.

… Read More »

August 21st, 2013|Announcements|

KECK SCHOOL HOSTS CME LUNG CANCER EVENT

Nearly 60 health professionals attended a continuing medical education event about multidisciplinary approaches to treating lung cancer, hosted by the Keck School of Medicine of USC. … Read More »

August 21st, 2013|Announcements|

CHLA Emergency Department wins Lantern Award for outstanding patient care, research, leadership

The Emergency Department at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles was selected for the Lantern Award, a national honor from the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) in recognition of the department’s outstanding performance in patient care, research and leadership.

(Courtesy ENA) (Courtesy ENA)

The department was chosen along with eight other emergency departments across the country from an applicant pool of 38 departments. The association then reviewed the extensive submissions.

“This acknowledgement reflects Children’s Hospital’s Emergency Department’s efforts in leadership, practice, education, advocacy and research,” added Alan Nager, MD, MHA, associate professor of clinical pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and director of Emergency Medicine and Transport at CHLA. “The application was filled with examples of the superb care and innovation contributed by our team.” … Read More »

August 21st, 2013|Announcements|

STEM CELL IMAGE OF THE MONTH

(Photo/Elisabeth Rutledge) (Photo/Elisabeth Rutledge)

This embryonic mouse at day 10.5 has a special glow thanks to the fluorescent labeling of its neurofilaments, which are major structural element of neurons. The picture by Elisabeth Rutledge, a PhD student in the lab of Andrew McMahon, PhD, won the July 2013 Image of the Month contest at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC.

… Read More »

August 15th, 2013|Announcements|

ZNI researcher receives grant to study the changing nature of amyloid proteins

By Amy E. Hamaker

Amyloid fibers, abnormal protein aggregates, have been associated with more than 20 serious human diseases, including neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases.

However, Ansgar Siemer, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute within the Keck School of Medicine of USC, is working on some amyloid fibers that can actually be necessary for long-term memory in fruit flies and other organisms.

Siemer will have the chance to research how this is possible thanks to a recent three-year award from the Whitehall Foundation. … Read More »

August 13th, 2013|Announcements|

CHLA team receives $1.25 million from NIH to continue research on pollution effects in Mongolia

Mongolia’s economic growth rate in 2012 was 12.3 percent — one of the highest in the world — but that same growth has caused rapid urbanization. These changes have resulted in serious health problems that Mongolia currently lacks the capacity to address. International support has come from volunteers, including a team of physicians and health-care professionals from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA).

For the last 15 years, David Warburton, MD, professor developmental biology program in the Department of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and part of the Saban Research Institute of CHLA, has been volunteering in Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaan Baatar and the surrounding Gobi Desert.

Recently, Warburton and his colleagues received a five-year, $1.25 million grant from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences to continue their research on air pollution and to build capacity among child health experts and government agencies in Mongolia. … Read More »

August 13th, 2013|Announcements|

USC researchers examine cancer incidence among Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders

Based on a comprehensive study that included more than half the U.S. Asian-American and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) populations, a team of scientists led by members of the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Cancer Prevention Institute of California (CPIC) has produced the first-ever analysis of national cancer incidence trends among 11 Asian-American and NHOPI groups.

The researchers examined rates and trends from 1990 through 2008, using data collected by 13 registries of the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program. The groups studied in detail include Asian Indians/Pakistanis, Chinese, Filipinos, Guamanians/Chamorros, Japanese, Kampucheans (Cambodians), Koreans, Laotians, Native Hawaiians, Samoans and Vietnamese. … Read More »

August 12th, 2013|Announcements|

Ruth K. Peters, 69

Ruth K. Peters, ScD (nee Ruth Ann Kloepfer), died from complications of progressive supranuclear palsy on July 20. She was 69. … Read More »

August 12th, 2013|Announcements|

CLEAN HANDS = DISEASE PREVENTION

(Photo/Christine Tam) (Photo/Christine Tam)

Hundreds of people joined in a demonstration in proper hand hygiene given by members of Keck Medical Center of USC at a health fair on July 28. The … Read More »

August 9th, 2013|Announcements|

Community comment sought for Health Sciences Master Plan

By Amy E. Hamaker

Big changes are coming to the Health Sciences Campus neighborhood as part of the USC HSC Master Plan. As part of the community, USC recently invited neighborhood residents to add their input to the process.

Two special workshops on implementation of the HSC Master Plan and streetscape were held for community members on Aug. 3 and Aug. 8 at Hazard Park. The events were co-sponsored by the LA-32 Neighborhood Council and the office of Councilmember José Huizar.

Approved by university trustees in 2011, the Master Plan guides future campus growth for academic, research and clinical space over the next 25 to 30 years. Boundaries include Valley Blvd. (north), Soto St. (east), Zonal Ave. (south) and Mission Rd. (west). … Read More »

August 9th, 2013|Announcements|