USC medical school will use $150 million gift to recruit faculty in fields of stem cells, cancer, and liver disease
Los Angeles Times
June 13, 2011
The W. M. Keck Foundation on Monday will announce a gift of $150 million to boost scientific research at USC's medical school and at two affiliated hospitals, adding to the university's recent success in attracting supersized donations.
The gift is the single largest in the 57-year history of the Keck Foundation, which has backed many scientific projects, including the famous Keck Observatory and telescopes in Hawaii. For USC, the money marks the third mega-gift since March, for a total of $460 million, as new President C. L. Max Nikias seeks to build the Los Angeles university's endowment.
The Keck money will be paid out over 20 years with the goal of raising the academic reputation of USC's medical school now that the university has full authority over USC University Hospital, a 411-bed general care facility, and the 60-bed USC Norris Cancer Hospital, said James Ukropina, a Los Angeles attorney who is a vice president of the Keck Foundation.
In 2009, USC bought the two Eastside hospitals from Tenet Healthcare Corp. for $275 million, ending a long dispute over control and improvements. USC had supplied faculty to the Tenet hospitals and trained students there but had not been able to implement all the programs that professors wanted.
"It's very difficult to have a leading research university today without a great medical school," Ukropina said. And strengthening the school and hospitals, he added, "will have immense benefits to the Los Angeles community."
