With more than 135 full-time primary, dual and joint-appointment faculty and more than 30 residents-in-training, the USC Department of Pathology is one of the largest pathology departments in the United States.

Pathology is the study of disease: its etiology, pathogenesis, and pathophysiology, and its morphologic expression at organ, tissue, cellular, and ultrastructural levels. Faculty of the department maintain ongoing research interests in hematopathology, neuropathology, and molecular and genetic pathology are continuing to expand the department's expertise in radioimmunoimaging and immunotherapy, using monoclonal antibodies.

The majority of pathology research space is located in the Hoffman Medical Research Center, the Edmondson Research Building, and the Clinical Sciences Building. Faculty of the department are also located in the Norris Cancer Hospital and Research Institute and in McKibben Hall, both located on the Health Sciences Campus, and in the Cancer Research Laboratory, located on nearby Mission Road.

The department provides diagnostic laboratory services for the LAC+USC Medical Center, the Norris Cancer Hospital, the Doheny Eye Hospital and, through its reference laboratories (USC Clinical Labs and USC Pathology Reference Laboratory), for the USC University Hospital. Approximately 40 of the department's full-time faculty members work in service laboratories throughout the LAC+USC Medical Center, where they are supported by 34 residents and fellows and a technical and clerical staff numbering in excess of 500. The Norris Cancer Hospital houses three full-time pathologists, two fellows, and approximately 25 clerical and support staff. The USC University Hospital houses five full-time pathologists and fellows.