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USC, Children’s Hospital will use gift to expand research projects
Los Angeles Apr 05, 2023
From left, USC President Carol L. Folt, USC Mann Dean Vassilios Papadopoulos and USC Trustee Chair Suzanne Nora Johnson pause in front of the building sporting the pharmacy school’s new name. | Photo courtesy of Gus Ruelas/USC
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USC will dedicate $40 million — from a gift totaling some $230 million — toward a partnership with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles “to enhance health care research and innovation across the lifespan,” the university announced.
The allocation, announced Monday, marks the third and final distribution of a donation made in 1998 from the late aerospace and biomedical technology entrepreneur Alfred E. Mann, aimed at biomedical and biodevice research and development.
In the 25 years since 1998, the original gift of some $170 million from Alfred E. Mann Charities and the Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Biomedical Engineering grew to more than $230 million, the school said, enabling USC to pursue a wide range of research and other projects.
In November, USC President Carol Folt announced the naming of the USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences with a $50 million endowment from the foundation. Folt also announced the naming of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering, from a $35 million endowment.
In the past, Mann’s donations also went toward establishing the USC Alfred E. Mann Institute, which has contributed to medical inventions such as the artificial retina.
The $40 million targeted for the USC-Children’s Hospital Los Angeles partnership will expand and enhance research at both institutions, according to the university.
“As we celebrate this new $40 million partnership with CHLA, we also pay tribute to the late Alfred E. Mann and his visionary donation,” Steven Shapiro, USC senior vice president for health affairs, said in a statement. “Together, we will continue to advance biomedical research and innovation initiatives that aim to improve child health.”
Paul S. Viviano, CHLA’s president and CEO, added, “Our team members look forward to working jointly with USC to make scientific discoveries to improve the lives of children — and the adults they will become.”
USC and CHLA have been affiliated in various health endeavors for more than 90 years, including in clinical pediatric programs that, the school said, reach one in three children annually in LA County.
The institutions have also collaborated on cell therapy programs to treat a variety of conditions — including through the USC/CHLA Translational Cell Therapy Program, which does cell and gene therapy research.
Mann was an aerospace and biomedical technology entrepreneur who died in 2016. He was a member of the USC Board of Trustees and also served on the Keck School of Medicine’s Board of Overseers.
