Focus on Urban Health - Keck School of Medicine of USC ...

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Eli Dubrow, trustee representing the Georgeand Zelda Walker Trust, talks with NedaRoosta, one of 30 Keck School of Medicinestudents to receive scholarships from the trust.Students thank Walker Trustfor scholarships By Imelda ValenzuelaSome $300,000 in scholarships awarded to 30 KeckSchool of Medicine of USC students from the George andZelda Walker Trust were celebrated at a reception at theEdmondson Faculty Center on Sept. 29.The students received the scholarships in $10,000increments from the trust.George and Zelda Walker attended USC in the early1930s, married and lived in Pasadena. George Walker,who passed away in 1975, had a successful career in theinsurance business and, as an insurance provider for theCalifornia Hospital Association, became closely involvedwith the health care industry. Through this involvement,he and Zelda (who died in 2004) decided to dedicate aportion of their trust to the Keck School.“I stand here mostly to express my sincere gratitude onbehalf of the entire Keck School family for the generosityand the visionary gift that the Walker Trust has been ableto provide,” said Henri Ford, M.D., vice dean for medicaleducation at the Keck School and chief of surgery,Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, at the event.“There’s no need to tell you how expensive it is to puta student through medical school, so whatever we cando to help and lower the debt burden for our studentsis extremely important to us,” Ford said.Ford said that scholarships allow the Keck School tobe competitive among other medical schools and providethe school with the ability to better recruit and attract“the very best and most talented students.”“This $300,000 allows us to grant scholarships tothese talented students, who will become great physiciansand carry on the Keck legacy,” he said.Keck student Crystal Ives has received $30,000 inthree years from the Walker Trust.“This has been the biggest scholarship that I’vereceived my whole time at USC − it’s almost a full yearof tuition,” said Ives, who is in the Dean’s ResearchFifth-Year Scholars Program, created by Keck School DeanCarmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A. “It’s been phenomenalfor me and my husband because he’s also at USC studyingpharmacy, and we’re sort of a double debt family.[Because of this scholarship,] I feel like I don’t have to.We’ll be able to pay back our debt and we’ll be ok.”To make a donation to support scholarships,visit www.usc.edu/supportkeck, or contactkeckdev@usc.edu or 323-442-1084.A W A R E N E S SUSC footballfans ‘Fight On’for breast cancerBy Leslie RidgewayD o e s p i n k c l a s h w i t h c a r d i -n a l a n d g o l d ?Not during October, Breast CancerAwareness Month. The Trojan Familywore all three colors proudly to promotebreast cancer awareness at theOct. 2 USC-Washington football game.Layla Kiffin, far left, on the Coliseum fieldwith USC Norris Cancer Hospital survivors,in pink, and physicians, in cardinaland gold, watching the promotional videoshown during halftime to applause from theTrojan faithful. With Kiffin are, from left,Mary Yamashita, M.D., Georgia McCreery,Heather MacDonald, M.D., Jennifer Feikin,Agustin Garcia, M.D., Ami Evidente, DennisHolmes, M.D., Kaprisha Vallecillo, PulinSheth, M.D., and Jennifer Mok.Hundreds of football fans stopped by The Doctors of USC booth at the frontof the Coliseum to talk to breast cancer experts Agustin Garcia, M.D., LindaHovanessian Larsen, M.D., Dennis Holmes, M.D., and Pulin Sheth, M.D., aboutbreast cancer screening. Visitors picked up 650 pink and white tote bags, as well ashand sanitizers, educational materials and embroidered pink ribbon stickers fromthe physicians and several breast cancer survivors who volunteered at the booth.The ribbon stickers were seen everywhere around the Coliseum, including on thebridle of USC mascot Traveler.At the USC Bookstore and bookstore tents outside the Coliseum, specially designedpink T-shirts featuring the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center andHospital logo and the words, “For a breast cancer cure. Fight on.” were flying offthe shelves. The T-shirts were sold as part of a collaborative effort among USCNorris, the USC Trojan Bookstores and USC Athletics. The slogan is part of the USChospitals marketing campaign launched in Los Angeles in January 2009. A portion ofthe proceeds from the T-shirt sales benefitted cancer research at USC Norris.The USC Song Girls and Spirit Leaders wore the pink T-shirts during pre-gamefestivities, and the USC football coaches’ wives also wore them for the game.The highlight of the day came at halftime, when an inspirational video wasbroadcast on the Jumbotron urging the Trojan Family to promote breast cancerawareness. Bringing the video’s message to life, five breast cancer survivors and five USCNorris breast cancer experts, joined by Layla Kiffin, wife of USC Trojans head footballCoach Lane Kiffin, marched onto the field to loud applause from the stands.“We are thrilled with the response − thousands of Trojans wearing pink ribbonsand buying our breast cancer awareness T-shirts,” said Jane Brust, associate seniorvice president for Health Sciences Public Relations and Marketing, whose officespearheaded the campaign. “We appreciate the great collaboration with the USCBookstores, USC Athletics and our USC Alumni Association. This is an exciting wayto promote breast cancer awareness, raise money for research, and extend the USCNorris brand throughout the Trojan Family. One of our survivors who appeared onthe field told us it was fun to be at the football game, wonderful to feel the supportfrom the stands, and great to be alive. She is the reason we are doing this campaign.”Also during October, everyone who had a mammogram at USC Norris CancerHospital received a free pink T-shirt. To schedule a mammogram at USC Norris,call (323) 865-3105.Donations can be made online at www.uscnorris.com/breastcancer. For more informationabout breast cancer care at USC, visit www.uschospitals.com/breastcancer; for patientappointments, call 323-865-3105.Photo by Sara Reeve (left); Photo by Brook Photography (right)28 KECK MEDICINE | Winter 2011 Issue
Keck in the NewsEvery week the news media cover stories fromthe Keck School of Medicine of USC. Here is asampling of coverage. For complete listings seewww.usc.edu/uscnews/usc_in_the_news/.In a HealthDay News story, MSNquoted Stephen Sener about analyzingthe genetic makeup of breastcancer tumors. The Los AngelesTimes and La Opinion quoted himabout the value of mammographyscreening in detecting breast cancer.The Wall Street Journal quotedAnne Peters about prescribingless-expensive insulin for someof her patients who are unableto afford higher-priced versions.with veterans’ benefits as they relateto health problems. Newsweek,Science News, AOL News and CBCNews (Canada) quoted Samet aboutInterphone, a study organized bythe World Health Organization’sInternational Agency for Research onCancer to research the health effectsof cell phones.exposure was associated with anincreased risk of the disease.La Opinion featured Lilyana Amezcuaand research on multiple sclerosis inminority communities.WebMD featured research by SimonGayther and colleagues which foundthat the same genetic region plays arole in both breast cancer and ovariancancer. MSNBC.com and Asian News Internationalalso featured the research.Photos by Don MiliciPhotos this page: Don MiliciOprah.com interviewed LaShondaSpencer about how women can empowerthemselves against contractingHIV. Spencer also spoke about whatpeople need to know about HIV.Popular Mechanics featured researchby Mark Humayun and JamesWeiland, which won the magazine’s2010 Breakthrough Award. The facultymembers helped to develop theArgus II retinal implant to help theblind see again. Ivanhoe Newswireand Science Channel also featuredthe invention.CNBC published a story on researchby Fatih Uckun that has discovered anew way to overcome radiation resistancein a type of leukemiathat affects children andadolescents. The story wasalso covered by Reuters,eScience News and ScienceDaily.New Vision (Uganda)reported that Jonathan Sametwas part of a group of USCexperts who traveled toUganda to promotesports fitness asa way of fightingdisease. Inan AssociatedPress (AP) story,the WashingtonPost quotedSamet on howthe federalgovernmentSamet should dealSaxenaUnited Press International (UPI)featured research by Keck Schoolstudent Tanmai Saxena, who foundthat women who reported usingestrogen hormone replacementtherapy for 15 years or more hada 19 percent greater risk of breastcancer compared with womenwho never used hormone therapy.Medscape, Medical News Today,Bloomberg Businessweek, HealthDayNews, CBS News, Scripps HowardNews Service, Asian News International,The Money Times (India),WebMD and CNN covered the story.ABC News quoted Jeffrey Victoroffabout the psychological factors behindviolent acts committed by soldiers.BBC World Service interviewedLeslie Saxon about the new Centerfor Body Computing at the KeckSchool of Medicine. Fast Company,AOL Tech, MobiHealth News, APand BBC World Service also quotedSaxon about body computing, andThe Huffington Post ran an op-ed bySaxon on the importance of technologicalinnovation in medicine.Psychology Today reported on astudy by Thomas Mack of twin pairsdiscordant for multiple sclerosis. Thestudy showed that childhood sunLos Angeles Times reported thatDean Carmen A. Puliafito has beennamed to the board of trusteesof Charles R. Drew University ofMedicine and Science, and that USCPresident C. L. Max Nikias has beennamed to the board of councilors.Nature featured Qi-Long Ying andcolleagues, who successfully createdthe first “knockout” rats – animalsthat are genetically modified to lackone or more genes – through embryonicstem cell-based gene targeting.ScienceNews and The Scientist alsocovered the discovery.CannonU.S. News & World Report featuredresearch by Paula Cannon whichcreated HIV-resistant cells that couldone day allow patients to control andeven suppress the infection withoutthe use of harsh anti-retroviraldrugs. Thaindian News (Thailand),Indo-Asian News Service (India), UPI,MedPage Today, Agence France-Presse,Technology Review, Los AngelesTimes, National Public RadioKPCC-FM and San Diego affiliateKPBS-FM also featured the research.keck.usc.edu KECK MEDICINE 29
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