The January 2014 edition of Physician Magazine featured a story about Keck Medicine of USC opening a new downtown outpatient clinic. The clinic opening also was covered by Los Angeles Downtown News.

A Jan. 17 article in The Wall Street Journal featured a U.S. Surgeon General’s report edited by Jonathan Samet, MD, Flora L. Thornton Distinguished Chair of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School. The report linked cigarette smoking with various kinds of deaths and illnesses. Smoking reduces the effectiveness of insulin, causing diabetes, Samet said. It also affects the liver and triggers inflammation, causing arthritis.

A Jan. 16 column in The New York Times ran a Q&A with C. Thomas Vangsness, Jr., MD, professor of orthopaedic surgery at the Keck School, about his book “The New Science of Overcoming Arthritis,” co-written with Greg Ptacek. Vangsness recommends that people with arthritis exercise to work their joints more. “Nothing pounding. I use an exercise bike; you’re still putting weight on your joints, you get the aerobics, but it’s not like a treadmill,” he said.

A Jan. 13 story on Xconomy.com noted that angel investors Rock Health named Leslie Saxon, MD, professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School, among its “Top 50 in Digital Health,” individuals “who led the pack in making the largest impact on digital health in 2013.”

A Jan. 9 broadcast of “The Doctors” featured an interview with Armand Dorian, MD, clinical associate professor of emergency medicine at the Keck School, discussing bizarre stories from the emergency room.

A Jan. 8 video report on The Wall Street Journal featured A Short Guide to a Long Life by David Agus, MD, director of the USC Westside Norris Cancer Center and director of the USC Center for Applied Molecular Medicine at the Keck School and Viterbi School of Engineering. Agus discussed the practical value to corporations taking care of their employees’ health. CBS News “This Morning” also highlighted the book, in which Agus makes recommendations for patients to manage their own health. “Health is going to change from the ground up, not the top down,” Agus said. “I wrote a book with all the tenets and the rules so you can go in empowered.”

A Jan. 8 broadcast on CBS News Los Angeles affiliate KCBS-TV quoted Daniel Stram, MPH, PhD, professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School, about the risks associated with eating seafood.

A Jan. 8 story in the La Cañada Valley Sun featured a story about the first baby delivered at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital in 2014. “It’s kind of like you share the holiday (with them),” said Missy Stehlin, RN, interim clinical director of perinatal services at USC-VHH, about holiday babies. “It’s exciting for all of us.”

A Jan. 7 article in The Washington Post, in a Kaiser Health News story, quoted Michael Cousineau, DrPH, research associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School and associate professor of clinical public administration at the Sol Price School of Public Policy, about the impact of homeless patients on healthcare systems.

A Jan. 6 story in the Los Angeles Times quoted Alexander Capron, LLB, University Professor and the Scott H. Bice Chair in Healthcare Law, Policy and Ethics at the Keck School and the Gould School of Law, about a complicated medical case involving a brain-dead girl. The story noted he helped craft the Uniform Determination of Death Act more than three decades ago. The Los Angeles Times quoted Capron in a second story about the case.

A Jan. 3 story in Los Angeles magazine cited Robert Kloner, MD, PhD, professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School, about how low testosterone is associated with hardening of the arteries and other cardiovascular issues.