KSOM annual report spotlights public health research, community engagement

Keck School of Medicine of USC’s annual report, released today, spotlights the Department of Population and Public Health’s innovative research, collaborative partnerships and unprecedented growth in the past year. Here are some highlights:

• The pandemic put public health in the spotlight – and our department answered the call with high-impact research studies, collaborative partnerships with government agencies and an unprecedented phase of growth.

• Melissa Lorenzo pursues her MS in biostatistics with the aid of a scholarship that she finds affirming and encouraging. “The fact that there is a generous person out there who has students of need on their mind is remarkably heartwarming.”

• Cancer does not affect all communities equally. Our department provides unmatched expertise in investigating and reducing cancer disparities through the NCI-funded Cancer Surveillance Program, community engagement initiatives and equity-focused research directly translated for application in healthcare.

• Christopher Haiman, ScD, is just one of our researchers accelerating medical breakthroughs with his work in prostate cancer risk and inherited genetic variants.

• Lourdes Baezconde Garbanati, PhD, MPH, Chanita Hughes-Halbert, PhD, and the team at USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health are just some from our Department leading the way in health disparities, community-level work and global health.

• Ricky Bluthenthal, PhD, leads Keck School in an important new initiative known as JEDI-WeST: Justice through Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Well-being and Social Transformation.

• Lourdes Baezconde Garbanati, PhD, MPH, and the VaccinateLA team led vaccine hesitancy and vaccine access efforts in Los Angeles communities, with Baezconde Garbanati presenting at a virtual meeting of the White House COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.

• We’re proud to have leaders in environmental health and cancer equity in Flora L. Thornton Chair Howard Hu, MD, MPH, ScD and Chanita Hughes-Halbert, PhD

• Congratulations to our faculty decorated with prestigious awards in 2020 and 2021.