Flora L. Thornton |
The Thornton Foundation endows pioneering vision chair.
THE FLORA L. THORNTON Foundation has given $2 million to establish the Flora L. Thornton Endowed Chair in Vision Research at the Doheny Eye Institute and the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
Alfredo Sadun, a professor in the departments of ophthalmology and neurological surgery who has made seminal contributions to the field of visual neuro-anatomy, is the inaugural holder of the chair.
The most dramatic illustration of his expertise was when he led a team that discovered the cause of an epidemic that blinded almost 50,000 Cubans and halted it. He and a team of Doheny researchers also pioneered research in optic dysfunction in Alzheimer’s patients.
Thornton is an honorary trustee of USC and a long-time champion of the health sciences and the university. Her previous gifts include endowing the Thornton Chair in Preventive Medicine and the Flora Thornton Cancer Prevention and Research Education Center, both at USC/Norris Com-prehensive Cancer Center. In 1999, she gave $25 million to name the USC Thorn-ton School of Music – believed to be the largest gift ever to a school of music at an American college or university.
“Flora Thornton has been a generous friend of USC,” said Steven J. Ryan, dean of the Keck School. “She is an active leader as a member of the Board of Overseers of the Keck School. We all benefit from her advice and suggestions and philanthropy, which always emphasize the highest quality. We are grateful for her support of this important research in vision and for the recognition that we are now able to provide to Alfredo Sadun.”
USC Black Alumni Association Holds Homecoming Reunion
The Homecoming Committee greeted members of the USC Black Alumni Association at its picnic reunion honoring alumni of the classes of 1950, 1975 and 2000. Attending were, left to right, Kemi Ajayi ’79; Patrick Holloway ’85; Deborah Walker ’89; Linda Dean Maudlin ’61, honorary chair of Homecoming 2000; David Brubaker ’67, MBA ’68, president of the USC Alumni Association; Monique Hunter-Dennis ’79, member of the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors; Judith Blumenthal MBA ’84, PhD ’88, associate vice president, alumni relations; USC President Steven B. Sample; Kathryn B. Sample; Renata Elmore ’84; Michelle Long-Coffee ’89; Karla Joseph ’94, MS ’00; and Carol Anderson ’93.
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The Homecoming Committee greeted members of the USC Black Alumni Association at its picnic reunion honoring alumni of the classes of 1950, 1975 and 2000. Attending were, left to right, Kemi Ajayi ’79; Patrick Holloway ’85; Deborah Walker ’89; Linda Dean Maudlin ’61, honorary chair of Homecoming 2000; David Brubaker ’67, MBA ’68, president of the USC Alumni Association; Monique Hunter-Dennis ’79, member of the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors; Judith Blumenthal MBA ’84, PhD ’88, associate vice president, alumni relations; USC President Steven B. Sample; Kathryn B. Sample; Renata Elmore ’84; Michelle Long-Coffee ’89; Karla Joseph ’94, MS ’00; and Carol Anderson ’93.
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