From left, Keck School of Medicine of USC Interim Dean Rohit Varma, USC Board of Trustees Chairman John Mork, philanthropists Malcolm and Barbara Currie, and USC President C. L. Max Nikias are seen during a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Malcolm and Barbara Currie Residence Hall, held Aug. 25 on the Health Sciences Campus.

USC leaders celebrated in August the opening of a new, resort-style residence hall on the Health Sciences Campus.

Currie Hall can house up to 456 students in a modern, spacious complex with 178 apartments, a fitness center, swimming pool, barbecues and an “academic success center” with computers, printers and two study rooms.

Currie Hall also will feature nine 3-bedroom units specifically for Keck Medical Center of USC patients and family members staying on campus for more than a week.

The complex features 24-hour, on-call staff, card-controlled access, bike storage, garage parking and fully furnished apartments. Medical students living on the Health Sciences Campus were previously limited to the 90-bed Seaver Residence Hall.

Keck School of Medicine Interim Dean and Director of the USC Gayle and Edward Roski Eye Institute, Rohit Varma, MD, MPH, described the opening of Currie Hall as a “historic moment” for the school.

“The life of a medical student is relentlessly challenging and demanding,” he said. “We have always been there for our students and today we take a momentous step forward towards that effort.”

USC President C. L. Max Nikias, PhD, commended Malcolm and Barbara Currie for their steadfast support to the university, as well as their visionary philanthropy. The residence hall is named in recognition of their investment in the university’s biomedical research and education. The Curries gave $10 million in 2015 toward the endowment of the Keck School of Medicine of USC and construction of the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience.

“The Curries have long believed in the possibilities that can happen when science and medicine are brought together,” he said. “They remind us that progress is never shaped by pessimism; it’s shaped by the courage to change the impossible. That is their legacy.”

In 2001, Malcolm Currie, PhD, received the university’s highest honor, the USC Presidential Medallion.

Varma and Nikias were joined at the celebration by Malcolm and Barbara Currie; Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael Quick, PhD; Keck Medicine of USC CEO Tom Jackiewicz, MPH; Chief Medical Officer of Keck Medicine of USC and the Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs for the Keck School of Medicine, Stephanie Hall, MD; and John Mork, chairman of the USC Board of Trustees.

Nikias called the residence hall a visible commitment to the future of science and medicine.

“Our medical students will be just a few steps from their patient’s beds and they will be one with the community, because this campus is their home,” he said. “We’re not only investing in the university’s future and the future of our students, but also the future of our community.”

by Douglas Morino