The Keck School of Medicine of USC honored USC Trustee Malcolm Currie, PhD, and his wife Barbara recently as the 2017 recipients of the Elaine Stevely Hoffman Award.

The Curries, who donated $10 million in 2015 toward the endowment of the Keck School and construction of the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience, received the award during a private ceremony held July 6 from Rohit Varma, MD, MPH, dean of the Keck School.

“The Curries’ extraordinary gift changed the landscape of the Keck School,” Varma said. “The Health Sciences Campus was transformed from a campus to a community with their gift, which allows our students to live together in a supportive environment alongside where they work and study.”

A new resort-style residence hall on the Health Sciences Campus opened in Fall 2016 and was named for the Curries in recognition of their investment in the university’s biomedical research and education. The Malcolm and Barbara Currie Residence Hall houses more than 450 students and offers a variety of amenities in the modern complex.

An engineering physicist who was chair and CEO of Hughes Aircraft, Malcolm Currie has served as a member of the USC Board of Trustees since 1989 and chaired the board from 1995-2000. He and his wife, Barbara, have been generous supporters of the university, endowing the Malcolm R. Currie Chair in Technology and the Humanities in 2008. The chair, currently held by USC President C. L. Max Nikias, was USC’s first endowed faculty position honoring exceptional achievements in both realms.

The Hoffman Award is among the few given by the Keck School to recognize distinguished achievement by its recipients. It is named in memory of Elaine Stevely Hoffman, a Los Angeles philanthropist who contributed to building a research center on the USC Health Sciences Campus.