In front of a full house at Aresty Auditorium on the morning of June 9, Thomas E. Jackiewicz, MPH, senior vice president and CEO of Keck Medicine of USC, and Rohit Varma, MD, MPH, interim dean of the Keck School of Medicine and director of the USC Gayle and Edward Roski Eye Institute, updated faculty and staff on past accomplishments and future plans for both the medical school and the clinical enterprise.

Varma detailed the school’s long-term vision to rise to No. 20 in rankings, explaining, “There’s a linear relationship between funding and rankings, which entails setting aggressive goals to recruit and retain NIH-funded principal investigators.”

He highlighted the integration required between medical school and medical center as being an essential catalyst for growth. Keck Medicine of USC has experienced exponential clinical growth, with patient volumes up 40 percent since USC ownership.

Jackiewicz emphasized Keck’s position of being the preferred provider of complex care and its strategy of building networks through affiliation, partnership and acquisition.

“We are developing our network of networks,” Jackiewicz said. “Affiliations with PIH Health and Hoag coupled with expansion into outlying markets of Bakersfield, Lancaster and Las Vegas will help ensure growth and sustainability of our health system.”

Attendees engaged in a question-and-answer session following the presentations, with reactions ranging from appreciation for the depth of information shared to questions about school funding, recruitment and clinical growth.

In addition to full capacity at Aresty, hundreds of employees viewed the live stream of the address online.

— Meg Aldrich