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|

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|

USC announces winners of inaugural Regenerative Medicine Initiative Awards

By Cristy Lytal

Three newly assembled research teams within USC Stem Cell, the regenerative medicine initiative at USC, will take steps that could lead to future stem-cell based therapies for certain forms of deafness, bone defects and pediatric leukemia.

The teams are the winners of USC’s Regenerative Medicine Initiative (RMI), a University-wide program kick-started by $1.2 million in funding from the office of Carmen A. Puliafito, MD, MBA, dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Each RMI Award provides up to $200,000 per year for two years to multi-investigator research collaborations that harness the full potential of USC-affiliated faculty members. … Read More »

August 9th, 2013|Announcements|

Thomas McAfee named CEO of new Keck Medicine of USC Medical Foundation

By Leslie Ridgeway

Thomas McAfee, MD, dean of clinical affairs at UC San Diego Health Sciences, has been appointed the CEO of the newly forming Keck Medicine of USC Medical Foundation. He begins his new role on Sept. 3.

The development of a community medical foundation intended to add primary and specialty practices into the Keck Medicine network was a key initiative identified as part of the clinical enterprise-­wide strategic plan. … Read More »

August 9th, 2013|Announcements|

Pasadena Magazine honors USC Doctors

USC physicians continued to make impressive gains this year in an annual ranking of doctors in the San Gabriel Valley.

In all, 345 USC physicians have been included in Pasadena Magazine’s 2013 roster of “Top Doctors,” up from 273 last year and 170 in 2011. The doctors represent 34 different specialties, including oncology, radiology, neurology, orthopaedic surgery, ophthalmology and cardiology. They comprise nearly one-third of the magazine’s entire roster. … Read More »

August 9th, 2013|Announcements|

Practice makes perfect at Surgical Simulation Center

By Josh Grossberg

Becoming a doctor requires years of attending lectures, watching PowerPoint presentations and reading stacks of thick textbooks filled with charts and graphs.

But at some point, young students and physician residents at Los Angeles County + USC will have to put down the heavy tomes and pick up a scalpel or a needle holder to begin the work of helping to make patients better.

To help them reach that goal as skillfully as possible, the Department of Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC provides them with a variety of simulation options to teach procedural based skills. This provides the opportunity to practice — and practice some more — before they ever touch a patient. Now, students and young physicians can hone their skills in an environment that is safe, but also real enough to mimic the stress of a real-life situation. … Read More »

August 9th, 2013|Announcements|

The Hirshberg Foundation enlists USC in its fight against pancreatic cancer with $25,000 grant to fund new treatments

Pancreatic cancer is among the most lethal of all cancers, but the least funded for research. According to American Cancer Society estimates, more than 45,000 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2013, and nearly 38,500 will die. The incidence of this cancer has been slowly increasing over the past decade.

The Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, now in its 15th year, funds projects and programs designed to improve patient care, treatment and, ultimately, survival rates. In its quest to discover the biologic mechanisms of pancreatic cancer, the Hirshberg Foundation recently provided $25,000 to the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. It is the foundation’s first gift to USC. … Read More »

July 26th, 2013|Announcements|

OPHTHALMOLOGY FELLOWS FETED

Keck School of Medicine of USC ophthalmology fellows Anne Elizabeth Barañano, MD (left), and Jennifer Hu, MD (right), chat with Keck School Dean Carmen A. Pulifito, MD, MBA, at a party at the dean’s home. The June 26 event celebrated the graduation of the school’s retina fellows. … Read More »

July 26th, 2013|Announcements|

In Memoriam: Kathleen Ann Burke, 66

Kathleen Ann Burke, a longtime research scientist at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, died June 30. She was 66.

Kathleen Ann Burke Kathleen Ann Burke

Born in in Newark, New Jersey, Burke graduated from Douglas College and received her Master of Science from Penn State. After graduate work at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, she moved to Los Angeles, where she worked at USC for more than 20 years until her retirement in 2011.

As a scientist, she specialized in researching gene therapy, and managed two large labs. Her last project focused on developing a new therapy for AIDS patients. … Read More »

July 26th, 2013|Announcements|

IGM HOSTS PUBLIC FORM

The Institute for Genetic Medicine recently hosted “Memories of the Way We Were,” a public forum on mental health issues related to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Discussion topics at the June 22 forum included Alzheimer’s and dementia research and treatment, music therapy for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, caregiver support, the effects of cross-generational interaction (seniors and preschool children), and new technological therapy options. … Read More »

July 26th, 2013|Announcements|

Researchers to study tobacco addiction in African-Americans

By Josh Grossberg

Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have been awarded a five-year, $1.8 million grant to study the links between genetics, tobacco addiction and withdrawal in African-Americans.

Adam Leventhal, assistant professor of preventive medicine and psychology and director of the USC Health, Emotion and Addiction Laboratory, will be the principal investigator of the study, which is being funded by the American Cancer Society.

“(African-Americans) have a lower rate of smoking,” Leventhal said. “And they smoke fewer cigarettes a day than whites, but they have a higher risk of cancer, which makes it critical to study the causes of nicotine addiction in African-Americans.” … Read More »

July 26th, 2013|Announcements|