USC professor Richard Smith was visiting his hometown when he felt a twinge in his neck. That twinge was cancer. Read his story, along with other inspiring patient stories, health news you can use, the latest research and more, in … Read More »
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated both the need for lifesaving vaccines and the challenge of getting many people to take them. A recent megastudy suggests that text messaging can boost vaccination usage — depending on which words are used. To … Read More »
If you’ve never heard of a genetic disease called SYNGAP1 Syndrome, you’re certainly not alone. The neurological disorder is considered rare, with only 762 confirmed cases globally, according to the #SyngapCensus. But epidemiological studies suggest it’s more common … Read More »
Growing up in northeast San Fernando Valley, Andrea Bañuelos Mota wanted to be a doctor, but she didn’t know how. No one in her community had gone to medical school. When her brother passed away, a devastating loss for her … Read More »
For Keck Medicine of USC patients who need a post-operative tracheostomy tube, a well-trained nurse could be their best line of defense.
“Nurses are often the first to confront any post-op complications that can arise,” said Mark Swanson, MD, a head … Read More »
USC senior Rajiv Sheth stepped on the stage in his cap and gown, clutched his diploma and beamed. His grandmother, Bharti Sheth, watched him during USC’s May 14 commencement ceremony from her seat at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and … Read More »
USC Senior Vice President Emeritus Anthony D. Lazzaro, an alumnus and longtime administrator responsible for the construction of more than 130 buildings on USC’s campuses, died on May 20. He was 100.
Lazzaro’s more than 60 years of service included leadership … Read More »
A team of international researchers has found that the Tsimane indigenous people of the Bolivian Amazon experience less brain atrophy than their American and European peers. The decrease in their brain volumes with age is 70% slower than in Western … Read More »
The Lazarex Cancer Foundation, founded by Dana Dornsife, has provided a $200,000 grant to the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center to establish Cancer Wellness HUBs in the greater Los Angeles area. The Cancer Wellness HUBs will be situated within the … Read More »
Success in the ever-changing world of health care requires continually launching new products, gaining formulary status, increasing margins and expanding market share — invariably on tight deadlines. Amid this competitive bustle, promising ideas risk being shelved due to the lack … Read More »
The swift development of vaccines has provided a vital tool to combat the spread of the deadly SARS-CoV-2 virus, but challenges to reaching herd immunity posed by the rise of new mutations and the inability of immunosuppressed people to develop … Read More »
In one sense, Marcella Birtele is following in her father’s footsteps: he works as an electrician in Italy, and she studies the electrophysiology of the brain as a postdoctoral fellow in Giorgia Quadrato’s lab at the Eli and Edythe … Read More »
Untreated hepatitis C can lead to serious and life-threatening health problems like cirrhosis and liver cancer. Direct-acting antiviral therapies introduced in recent years are highly effective, with cure rates above 95%.
But most Medicaid beneficiaries with hepatitis C don’t get these … Read More »
Chris Allen will serve as chief financial officer for Keck Medical Center of USC beginning May 31, Keck Medicine of USC leaders announced recently. Allen will be responsible for developing and directing the medical center’s overall financial planning, Keck Medicine … Read More »
Before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down campus, you could often find Claire Needham practicing plié, relevé and sauté in the light-filled dance studios of the USC Kaufman International Dance Center. Afterwards, she might dart off to a neurobiology or … Read More »
The pandemic may have closed some doors to in-person opportunities for students, but it opened a big one for Merna Ghallab, who gained invaluable training as a COVID-19 contact tracing intern and team lead for Los Angeles County — all … Read More »
Every year, surgeons perform more than 5,000 cranioplasties, or surgeries that restore cranial defects, on patients who have experienced critical size cranial defects resulting from congenital defects, head trauma or tumor removals.
Traditional materials used to correct these deficits have been … Read More »
Friday was a day of firsts.
It was the first time in 70 years that USC’s commencement had taken place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — complete with a lit torch.
It was also the first time that two separate graduating … Read More »
When George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020, outrage erupted across the country. Terry Zhu, a fourth-year medical student at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, marched with friends and classmates in the … Read More »
Keck Medicine of USC recently joined organizations across the country in celebrating National Nurses Week and National Hospital Week. These annual events serve as an opportunity to pause and honor health care employees for the compassionate, innovative ways they support … Read More »