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

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K In BriefA Quick Look at news from the KeckSchool of Medicine and honors forKeck faculty, students and alumni.N E W L E A D E R S H I PC. L. Max Nikias installedas 11 th president of USCBy Sara ReeveFrom left, Academic Senate President PeterConti, M.D., USC President C. L. Max Nikias,Ph.D., and Keck School of Medicine DeanCarmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A.“One of the fewcertainties of ourworld is that asthe pace of changeaccelerates, thelevel of uncertaintywill increase.”4 KECK MEDICINE | Winter 2011 IssueThe USC Health Sciences Campus was well represented during the installation of C. L. Max Nikias, Ph.D.,as the 11th president of USC in a ceremony Oct. 15 on the University Park Campus.A crowd of approximately 10,000 faculty, staff, students, alumni, community members and leaders assembledto witness the historic occasion at which President Nikias gave his broad vision to continue the university’supward trajectory into the heights of elite research universities.“One of the few certainties of our world is that as the pace of change accelerates, the level of uncertaintywill increase,” said Nikias. “But allow me to ask, what is uncertainty? In the proper light, my fellow Trojans,uncertainty is the beginning of adventure. And the ability to turn uncertainty to adventure, into a magnificentjourney forward, is what defines a Trojan.”Faculty from the Keck School of Medicine of USC were among 1,300 USC faculty wearing academic regaliafrom the schools where they received their degrees. As part of a colorful procession of hundreds of universitydelegates, a USC Hospitals delegation included 40 invited hospital administrators, nurses and physiciansfrom the four USC-affiliated hospitals − USC University Hospital, USC Norris Cancer Hospital, Los AngelesCounty+USC Medical Center and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The Keck School physicians in thehospital delegation wore white coats, making them especially visible to the Trojan Family.The presidential party proceeded last, led by USC Academic Senate President Peter Conti, M.D., director ofthe USC PET Imaging Science Center and professor of radiology at the Keck School of Medicine. Conti is thefirst physician to serve as president of the USC Academic Senate and had the honor of carrying the University’smace, a ceremonial scepter symbolizing the authority of the Office of the President.Keck School of Medicine Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A., marched with the party that led PresidentNikias and his family to the stage in Alumni Memorial Park. “This was a momentous occasion for everyone atUSC, including faculty, staff and students from both the University Park Campus and the Health SciencesCampus,” said Puliafito. “President Nikias has an inspiring vision for the future of medicine and health at USC,and I know that his presidency will inspire new forms of collaboration between the two campuses.”In a speech drawing on the classic story of Aeneas and his quest to build a new City of Troy, PresidentNikias outlined ambitious plans for the university, which include strengthening academic quality andimproving financial health. Among priorities for his administration are:• Give faculty the resources to fulfill their full potential while recruiting new interdisciplinary faculty superstars.• Strengthen the USC academic community to ensure that it is ready to explore the “new frontiers of humanprogress,” particularly the areas of medicine, biology and biotechnology.• By building interdisciplinary bridges, bring together the Health Sciences Campus and University ParkCampus to represent a unified USC, with “one character and one shared identity.”Photo by Steve Cohn
Photo by Sara ReeveU S C h o s p i ta l s r a n k e d a m o n g b e s tOphthalmology, pediatricsrank high; urology leapsahead of competitionT h e D o h e n y E y e I n s t i t u t e a n d C h i l d r e n s H o s p i ta l L o s A n g e l e s,both staffed exclusively by USC physicians, once again appeared in the nationaltop 10 in U.S. News & World Report magazine’s 21 st annual rankings of “America’sBest Hospitals.” New to the list was the urology service at USC UniversityHospital, which debuted in the rankings in 16 th place.The Doheny Eye Institute ranked eighth in ophthalmology based on recommendationsfrom specialists in ophthalmology for challenging cases and procedures.Children’s Hospital Los Angeles was one of only seven children’s hospitalsin the nation and the only pediatric medical center on the West Coast named tothe national “Honor Roll” of children’s hospitals in the United States. Pediatrichospital listings were published in June.The other hospital rankings, released July 15, are categorized by medicalspecialty, with the top 50 medical centers listed for most specialties.In addition to urology, USC University Hospital was ranked in four other specialties.The hospital ranked 20 th in neurology and neurosurgery − climbing 25 spotsfrom last year, 28 th in pulmonology, 29 th in gynecology and 31 st in orthopaedics.USC-affiliated Rancho Los Amigos ranked 17 th in rehabilitation, up one spotfrom last year.“I’m proud of our Keck School of Medicine faculty and the hospital staff whodid the hard work that made all of these rankings possible,” said Keck SchoolDean Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A. “This national recognition of theirdedication and professionalism is well deserved. I am especially proud of thefirst-time inclusion of the Department of Urology, under the leadership of Dr.Inderbir Gill, in these rankings.”The Best Hospitals guide ranked 152 medical centers nationwide out of 4,852hospitals in 16 specialties. The full list of hospital rankings and methodologyis also available online at http://www.usnews.com/besthospitals. The rankingswere published in the August issue of the magazine.Student named AMA Foundation Minority ScholarCianna Leatherwood, a second-year medical student at the Keck Schoolof Medicine of USC, was one of 13 medical students in the country namedby the American Medical Association Foundation as a2010 Minority Scholars Award recipient. She receiveda $10,000 scholarship in recognition of scholasticachievement and commitment to improvingminority health.Leatherwood began her experience withunderserved minority populations when shevolunteered for the Berkeley Free Clinic, whereshe was stunned to see the large percentage ofminorities among the homeless and uninsuredclientele. She pursued this interest in minorityhealth by working as a research assistant atthe Los Angeles County+USC MedicalCenter, investigating the effectiveness ofa tool designed to increase medicationawareness and compliance amongnon-English speaking and low healthliteracy patients.Keck School donation keepsMed COR program aliveBy Leslie RidgewayA nearly 40-year-old USC programdesigned to help high school studentsin underserved areas of Los AngelesCounty will remain open with ajoint donation of $150,000 fromthe Keck School of Medicine ofUSC and the Los Angeles UnifiedSchool District (LAUSD).The program, Med COR (MedicalCounseling, Organizing and Recruiting),was established in 1970 byJohn Davis, M.D., Med COR directorand professor of pediatrics at theKeck School. The goal then – to helpstudents of color get the education,exposure and experience they needto take on careers in the healthprofessions – has not changed, eventhough the reduction of funding willaffect how many students can participatein the program. LAUSD experiencedbudget difficulties dueto state reductions.The Keck School, under the directionof Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D.,M.B.A., donated $75,000 to the program,which LAUSD agreed to match.“We’ve helped more than 4,000kids since Med COR was founded.Thanks to this donation, we’ll still beable to work with 400,” said Davis.The Keck School has providedin-kind support to the program inthe past, arranging for seminars andtutoring sessions to take place in USCbuildings for no cost.“This program has helped thousandsof young people not only makea decision to enter the medical profession,but also to get the educationand motivation they need to apply totop universities,” said Puliafito. “MedCOR must be sustained to continue togive that opportunity to these kids.”Four medical magnet high schools– Bravo Magnet, King Drew Magnet,Van Nuys Magnet and OrthopaedicMagnet – are participating in MedCOR this year.keck.usc.edu KECK MEDICINE 5
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