JOHANNA AND JEFFREY GUNTER have pledged $100,000 in support of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC. Jeffrey Gunter graduated from the Keck School of Medicine of USC in 1987 and completed his dermatology residency at the LAC+USC Medical Center in 1991.

“It’s our honor to help,” said Jeffrey Gunter. “The Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC is poised to be one of the leading centers in the world, truly on the cutting edge of regenerative medicine. As a family, we’ve benefitted from the early advances of cell culture and research, so it was just logical to join the center at the Keck School in pursuing their USC vision for medical research to benefit current and future generations.”

In recognition of their support, the Keck School will name a conference room in the Gunter family’s honor. Jeffrey Gunter also has joined the Keck School’s Broad Task Force, which plays a leadership role in promoting awareness and raising funds in support of the Broad Center’s research and educational programs.

The gift was coordinated by the Keck School of Medicine Development Office in conjunction with the USC Associates Program, the University of Southern California’s premier academic support group.

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USC’S PUBLIC HEALTH FACULTY ranked fourth on the “Top Research Universities Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index” as ranked by Academic Analytics for 2007 and reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The USC program in the Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research (IPR) at the Keck School of Medicine follows only Yale University, University of Washington and Johns Hopkins University.

 “One factor that distinguishes IPR from most doctoral programs is that we started first and functioned for many years solely as a research institute,” says C. Anderson Johnson, Ph.D., who was director during the ranking period. “Quality scientific research is at the core of our self-identity.

 “Our training programs have been built on our research excellence, and in essence, we are a niche program, providing training almost exclusively in those aspects of population health in which we excel. Hence, our productivity rate is high, and students appreciate that. They are drawn to USC because of that.”      

The index examines faculty members who are listed on the Web sites for Ph.D. programs – 25 at USC. The productivity of each faculty member is measured on as many as five factors, depending on the most important variables in the discipline: books published, journal publications, citations of journal articles, federal grant dollars awarded, and honors and awards.

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A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE KECK SCHOOL of Medicine of USC and the Alzheimer’s Association’s California Southland Chapter is the first of its kind in the nation and creates the most comprehensive diagnostic center for Alzheimer’s disease, memory loss and related disorders in the Coachella Valley.

The Memory Assessment Center opened Nov. 8 in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Medical Building on the Eisenhower Medical Center campus in Rancho Mirage. The center was endowed in perpetuity from a $2.5 million gift through the Keck School of
Medicine from Helene and Lou Galen, longtime USC benefactors and Coachella Valley philanthropists.

Lou Galen died the week of the center’s opening after a brief illness. He was 82.

The Memory Assessment Center is also funded by a leading gift from Ann Marie and Robert Byfield, longtime Alzheimer’s Association benefactors; annual grants from The Judy Fund, established by Marshall Gelfand, through the Alzheimer’s Association; and the Maxwell Charitable Trust.

“It is estimated that 8,000 people in the Coachella Valley are experiencing a disorder that hastens decline in memory and intellectual ability,” says Helena Chui, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at the Keck School.

“The new Memory Assessment Center is dedicated to providing state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment,” says Chui, who is also the Raymond and Betty McCarron Chair in Neurology. “The opening of the center reflects the culmination of a team
effort among the University of Southern California, the Alzheimer’s Association, Eisenhower Medical Center and leaders in the local community. We are committed to making this a center of excellence, a catalyst for the care and cure of Alzheimer’s disease.”

The center is directed by Lily Tseng, M.D., assistant professor of clinical neurology at USC, who specializes in Alzheimer’s disease, vascular cognitive impairment and other memory disorders.

For appointments at the new Memory Assessment Center, call 760-341-5315.

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THE CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY elected former Keck School of Medicine of USC faculty member and alumna Karen Bass as its 67th speaker. She is the first African-American woman and the first Democratic woman to hold the position. Bass has been a State Assembly Member since 2005, representing the 47th District, which includes a major portion of Los Angeles.

Bass graduated from USC’s physician assistant program and worked for several years at the LAC+USC Medical Center emergency room. She founded the Community Coalition for Substance Abuse, Prevention and Treatment in South Central Los Angeles to address the increase of drug abuse cases that came through the hospital. The coalition is nationally recognized as a model for grassroots organizing.

Bass served as a clinical instructor at the Keck School of Medicine from 1986 to 2004. As a faculty member, “Karen demonstrated not only concern with the health and welfare of individual patients, but also a deep concern with the conditions that affected her patients and their families,” says Jerry Gates, Ph.D., chair, Department of Family Medicine. “Today, as one of the leading legislators in California, one sees in Karen a demonstration of the core values of family medicine at work.

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KECK SCHOOL OF MEDICINE faculty members and a student were among those honored at the USC Academic Honors Convocation.

Two Keck faculty members were recognized for previously announced honors. Appointed by President Sample, Stephen J. Ryan, M.D., was named Distinguished Professor and Richard F. Thompson, Ph.D., was named University Professor. Distinguished Professor is an honor given to professors whose accomplishments have brought special renown to the university. University Professor is an honor reserved for faculty members who have displayed significant accomplishments in several disciplines.

Ryan, who holds the Grace and Emery Beardsley Distinguished Chair of Ophthalmology at Keck, is president of the Doheny Eye Institute, former dean of the Keck School of Medicine and former USC senior vice president for medical care.

Thompson is the William M. Keck Chair in Biological Sciences and professor of psychology at USC
College, professor of neurology at the Keck School, and senior research associate at the USC Davis School of Gerontology.

Keck School doctoral student Feng-Ting Huang received the Phi Kappa Phi Student Recognition Award for her research into the production of antibodies in the human body. Her research seeks ways to prevent and treat diseases such as sporadic Burkitt’s lymphoma.

Elyn R. Saks, J.D., received the Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Award. She is associate dean and the Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law at the USC Gould School of Law, professor of psychology at the USC College, and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Keck School of Medicine. A mental health law expert, Saks won the 12th Annual Books For A Better Life Award in the inspirational category for her memoir The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness, which chronicles her battle with schizophrenia.

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HASTINGS DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR and Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery Vaughn A. Starnes, M.D., received USC’s highest honor, the Presidential Medallion, April 7 at the 27th annual Academic Honors Convocation.

At the convocation, USC President Steven B. Sample, Ph.D., presented the USC Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award to Michael Lai, M.D., Ph.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. In addition, he honored several other members of the Keck School of Medicine community for outstanding achievement.

Starnes, an internationally renowned surgeon, has been a pioneer in cardiothoracic surgery, heart and lung transplantation and repair of congenital heart defects. He also is acclaimed for his expertise in heart surgery for
newborns and children.

Appointed as a USC Distinguished Professor in 2004, he is the founding executive director of the USC Cardiac and Vascular Institute. He also directs the residency program for congenital cardiac surgery at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Sample said Starnes was recognized for “significant contributions to cardiothoracic medicine and transplantation, his distinguished career as a healer and educator, and his dedication to the advancement of human health and wellbeing.”

Lai was recognized for his pioneering studies of infectious diseases, his stature as a world-renowned virologist and his research into a wide range of RNA viruses, including hepatitis C and the coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Lai became president of National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan after retiring from USC in 2006, though he maintains a portion of his research program at the Keck School of Medicine.

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FRANCE’S ELITE LEGION OF HONOR officially inducted USC surgeon Namir Katkhouda, M.D., into its ranks in a Dec. 17 ceremony at USC. He received the award – the highest honor the country can bestow – for his pioneering work in laparoscopic surgery.

Katkhouda, a French citizen, is an international leader in the development of minimally invasive surgery. He received the Knighthood of the French Order of the Legion of Honor from the French Ambassador to the United States, Pierre Vimont, representing French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

 “It is a huge honor for me to wear the ribbon that was originally created by Napoleon
Bonaparte in 1802, and to accept this recognition of leadership in my field,” says Katkhouda, professor of surgery and director of the minimally invasive surgery program at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

Katkhouda received his medical training in France and did his residency at the University of Nice School of Medicine where, while training to be an abdominal surgeon, he joined forces with a small group of surgeons who were revolutionizing the field of traditional surgery through minimally invasive techniques.

In 1988, he performed one of the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal) surgeries in France and established himself as a world-renowned pioneer in the field. In 1993, he was recruited to the Keck School of Medicine by Tom R. DeMeester, M.D., chair of the Department of Surgery.

Katkhouda’s activities in the field of laparoscopic surgery include these accomplishments:
• Performed Europe’s first laparoscopic hernia surgery in 1990.
•  In 1991 performed the world’s first minimally invasive laparoscopic vagotomy (surgical cutting of the vagus nerve) for treatment of duodenal ulcer disease, publishing his results in the American Journal of Surgery.
• Pioneered laparoscopic liver surgery and published the first paper in the field.
• Performed USC’s first laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery in 2002.
• Published the first in-depth book on the principles of laparoscopic surgery, and another book on laparoscopic techniques that received a special award from USC President Steven B. Sample.

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CALLING THE PROJECT INNOVATIVE in terms of energy efficiency and research collaboration, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) awarded nearly $27 million in funding for a new stem cell facility at USC.

The University was one of 12 California institutions considered for the institute’s major facilities grants, which will provide $271 million to build stem cell research facilities throughout the state. The facility will be named the Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC.

 “We are honored to be selected for funding as a CIRM institute,” said Martin Pera, Ph.D.,
director of the center. “The funding will provide a tremendous boost for USC’s stem cell initiative.”

The funding will supplement a $30 million gift made in 2006 by the Eli and Edythe Broad
Foundation toward a stem cell facility.

“Thanks to the visionary leadership of Mr. Broad, and his commitment to the Keck School
of Medicine of USC, we were well positioned to compete for the CIRM facilities grant, making possible the building that will bear the names of Eli and Edythe Broad,” said Keck School Dean Carmen A. Puliafito, M.D., M.B.A.

The $56.9 million from the two sources will be used to establish a five-story building that would allow USC to carry out stem cell research in three categories: basic and discovery stem cell research, preclinical research and preclinical development, and clinical research.

For more information on USC’s stem cell program, visit http://stemcell.usc.edu.

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