Today we honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Come out and share with us as we pay tribute to this man of peace during a special event on Wednesday, January 22, 2025 from 12pm to 1:30pm at the Tutor Campus Center on UPC. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4hg3j10

Supporting our community in the aftermath of the So Cal fires ❤️‍

The Keck School of Medicine is stepping up to provide critical aid and education. From organizing care packages to creating multilingual public health resources, we’re working together to help those affected. ...Here’s how we’re making an impact:

🩺 Partnering with 40+ community groups to share vital health info & evolving fire recovery strategies
📚 Sharing air quality & recovery tips in multiple languages
🎒 Providing care packages, tutoring & school supplies for students & staff
🥘 Circulating info on free warm meals & non-perishables
🙌 Connecting students, staff & faculty with volunteer opportunities
🤝 Collaborating with local leaders, USC initiatives & medical/MPH students to meet community needs

Please head to our www.usc.edu/emergency/ for links to additional resources for those affected by the fires.

🏆Join us in celebrating Andrea Matho for receiving the Dean’s Early Career Award for Excellence in Teaching. Andrea Matho has earned this award by being an innovative and interactive teacher, recognized for her excellent evaluations and cross-disciplinary projects.

Matho developed a ...keen interest in point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) and, after a fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, won the 2024 Barbara Korsch Award to develop a POCUS training program at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. She actively mentors students, residents, and fellows, fostering growth and encouraging hands-on learning. She is also a collaborative leader, driving multi-departmental initiatives and advocating for the ethical use of POCUS on a national level.

The human outer ear comes from . . . gills?

A study out of USC Stem Cell and Gage Crump's Lab finds the mammalian outer ear has a surprisingly ancient origin in the gills of fishes and marine invertebrates.

An earful of gill: USC Stem Cell study points to the evolutionary origin of the mammalian outer ear - USC Stem Cell

The outer ear is unique to mammals, but its evolutionary origin has remained a mystery. According to a new study published in Nature from the USC ...

stemcell.keck.usc.edu

🏆Join us in celebrating Sravanthi Reddy for receiving the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Sravanthi Reddy has earned this award through mentoring and advising future radiologists, encouraging scholarship and innovation.

Reddy is known as an award-winning master teacher and a ...national leader in Emergency Radiology, creating a highly-ranked ER division and ER Radiology fellowship program at USC. She has also pioneered educational programs and curricula, including a pathway program for premedical students and an online learning curriculum for medical students. She creates safe spaces in her teaching and mentoring and is a model, advocate, and upstander for DEIB and wellness.

Counties where drinking water surpassed recommended maximum levels of PFAS (aka 'forever chemicals') had a higher incidence of digestive, endocrine, respiratory, and mouth and throat cancers.

Study links PFAS contamination of drinking water to a range of rare cancers

Related News First genome-wide comparison of vapers and smokers finds similar DNA changes linked to disease risk August 12, 2024 New USC research...

keck.usc.edu

In the most comprehensive study of its kind published in the American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology (American Thoracic Society), USC Norris member Dr. Stella Tommasi analyzed virtually the entire genome in the cells of study participants using a state-of-the-art genetic ...sequencing technique and discovered that vaping showed similar DNA changes to smoking—changes that are linked to the development of cancer. Even though vaping exposes you to fewer toxic chemicals than smoking, these DNA changes suggest it still poses significant health risks. Learn more about this study here: https://keck.usc.edu/news/first-genome-wide-comparison-of-vapers-and-smokers-finds-similar-dna-changes-linked-to-disease-risk/.

Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by the wildfires. For the latest updates, visit the university's emergency web page at emergency.usc.edu.

🏆Join us in celebrating Lorraine Kelley-Quon for receiving the Dean’s Early Career Award for Excellence in Scholarship. Lorraine Kelley-Quon has earned this award through her strong and steady national representation of CHLA and the Division of Pediatric Surgery, showcasing her expertise in ...Pediatric Surgical Outcomes and Prescription Opioid Utilization in children.

Lorraine Kelley-Quon has authored over 70 peer-reviewed scientific publications, led 90 projects for presentation at local and national meetings, and has over 60 features in news/blogs/media outlets. She has dedicated her efforts not only to highlighting the problem of opioid use in children and adolescents, but also to investigating solutions and launching quality improvement initiatives. Kelley-Quon exemplifies excellence in all facets of academic surgery as a leader, innovator, mentor, clinician, and scholar.

Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at USC

🏆Join us in celebrating Justin Ichida for receiving the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship. Justin Ichida has earned this award by publishing 36 papers in 11 years as PI and obtaining 46 grants, including current funding of $2.2M in direct costs per year.

Justin Ichida has ...emerged as an international leader in the field of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative disorders. His group has pioneered use of induced motor neurons from ALS patients to model neurodegenerative phenotypes in a dish and conduct drug screening. Ichida is known for his exceptional collaboration, building bridges within the stem cell and neuroscience communities, and actively engaging patient advocates in the ALS community. USC Stem Cell

“I come from a neighborhood like this,” Damon Clark, MD, an associate professor of surgery says of the Surgeon for a Day program. “Showing the kids USC healthcare providers who come from similar environments and backgrounds really brings home what’s possible for them.”

Learn more... about the program brings kids from public schools — mainly in and around Boyle Heights — to the USC Health Sciences Campus to take part in hands-on activities and explore future options for working in health care: https://bit.ly/3DpUnYo

🌟 Join us in welcoming Greg Kharabadze, MHA, FACHE on his first week as Senior Associate Dean, Chief Operations and Finance Officer. His areas of oversight include budget and finance; emergency preparedness and safety; human resources; information services; marketing and communications; research... administration; and space and facilities planning.

Appointment of Greg Kharabadze, MHA, FACHE as Senior Associate Dean, Chief Operations and Finance Officer

Related News Appointment of Christina Runge, PhD, as vice dean for faculty affairs, advancement, and inclusion June 26, 2024 Appointment of Cindy A....

keck.usc.edu

🏆Join us in celebrating Charleston Chiang for receiving the Dean’s Early Career Award for Excellence in Mentoring. Charleston Chiang has earned this award for fostering a flexible and supportive environment where mentees can seek guidance through a variety of settings.

Chiang conducts... weekly hour-long one-on-one meetings with every trainee in his group and maintains a group of 10-11 members across levels (from postbaccalaureate interns to senior research associates). He respects every mentee’s work-life balance and adapts to their working style and schedule. Every one of his eligible PhD students has won a pre-doctoral fellowship from NIH, and every PhD student and postdoc leaves his group with at least one major publication. Chiang is known for proudly saying of his mentees, "it's their work, not mine.”