USC Medallion Goes to Starnes, Waterman
Photo/Steve Cohn
USC President Steven B. Sample presented the awards at the 27th annual Academic Honors Convocation April 7 at Town & Gown.
Starnes, an internationally renowned surgeon, has been a pioneer in cardiothoracic surgery, heart and lung transplantation and repair of congenital heart defects. He is also acclaimed for his expertise in heart surgery for newborns and children.
In 1990, Starnes performed the world’s first lobar transplant using a lung segment from a living donor. Three years later, he performed the first live donor, double-lobar lung transplant on a patient with cystic fibrosis. He has conducted more living donor lung transplants than any other surgeon in the United States.
Appointed as a USC Distinguished Professor in 2004, he is the founding executive director of the university’s Cardiovascular Thoracic Institute. He also directs the residency program for congenital cardiac surgery at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.
Sample told the assembled guests that Starnes was being recognized “for his 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 well-being.”
Speaking about Waterman, Sample said that the University Professor, a member of the USC faculty since 1982, “is widely regarded as the founding father of computational biology.”
The interdisciplinary field uses mathematics, statistics and computer science to study molecular mechanisms and attempts to unlock the mysteries of life itself.
He co-developed the Smith-Waterman algorithm for gene and protein sequence comparison and the Lander-Waterman formulas for physical mapping and sequencing. This second algorithm made it possible for the biotech firm Celera Genomics to accelerate and complete sequencing of the human genome well in advance of the government-funded Human Genome Project.
He is the principal investigator for the USC Center of Excellence in Genomic Science, a founding editor of the Journal of Computational Biology and a member in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the Institut de France Academie des Sciences, among other associations.
Dedicated to enriching campus life, for years he has overseen academic and social activities for students as faculty master at USC’s International Residential College at Parkside.
The medallion, Sample said, was awarded to Waterman “for his pioneering work in computational biology, his distinguished career as a scientist and educator, and his dedication to the well-being of USC’s community of scholars.”
Latest stories
- Ray Irani, Michael Waterman Elected to NAE February 10, 2012 10:35 AM
- MSW@USC Student to Compete in 2012 Paralympics February 10, 2012 9:22 AM
- Judy Woodruff: Public Broadcasting Has Changed for the Good February 10, 2012 8:49 AM
-
For Journalists »
-
USC in the News
for 2/8/2012 »-
The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
-
-
Campus News
- Capital Connections
- USC faculty, staff and alumni in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento
- In Print
- New and recent books written or edited by USC faculty and staff
- Family Matters
- Achievements and awards
- Obituaries