Located in Los Angeles, the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California trains tomorrow’s leaders in patient care and biomedical research and provides advanced health care to the people of Southern California. Increasingly, the Keck School is expanding its biomedical research enterprise and, in so doing, raising its profile as a premier medical school.

Building on Excellence

Keck School leaders have embarked upon a remarkable transformation, reinventing the school for the new millennium. Already, leaders and faculty have seen major growth in school research dollars, philanthropic funds and patient care revenue. Planning and construction on three new research facilities is complete and has allowed the recruitment of scores of new faculty members, culled from the country’s elite scientists and physicians.

At present, the Keck School of Medicine ranks among the nation’s top 25 percent of medical schools in federally sponsored research (Association of American Medical Colleges, 2003). Keck School departments have risen to national prominence, with ophthalmology, pediatrics and preventive medicine consistently ranked among the top ten in the country. Keck School physicians are known as experts in advanced medical care and research. More than 175 Keck School faculty members are listed among the “Best Doctors in America” (Woodward/White, 2004) and 84 are listed in “America’s Top Doctors” (Castle Connolly, 2004).

In education, faculty members have modernized the curriculum, providing students with a more relevant education in face of an explosion of biomedical knowledge and rapid changes in the health care system.

Research programs in genetics, cancer, neurogenetics, transplantation medicine, and other key areas—have attracted national recognition. The school’s dual commitments to collaborative interdisciplinary research and rapidly translating scientific findings from the lab bench to the patient’s bedside have proved pivotal in its continuing success in research.