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John D. Carpten elected fellow of AACR Academy

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John D. Carpten elected fellow of AACR Academy

March 29, 2021

By Wayne Lewis

American Association for Cancer Research honors distinguished USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center scientist

John D. Carpten, PhD, founding chair for the Department of Translational Genomics in the Keck School of Medicine of USC, has been named to the 2021 class of fellows of the American Association for Cancer Research’s AACR Academy. He is the holder of the Royce and Mary Trotter Chair in Cancer Research and co-leader of the Translational and Clinical Sciences Program at USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The mission of the AACR Academy is to recognize and honor distinguished scientists whose major scientific contributions have propelled significant innovation and progress against cancer, and to leverage the expertise of the global brain trust of fellows of the AACR Academy to advance the mission of the AACR to prevent and cure all cancers through research, education, communication and collaboration.

“John Carpten has an extraordinary record of impact and an uncompromising vision of science that makes a difference in outcomes for people facing cancer,” said Caryn Lerman, PhD, director of the Norris cancer center and USC’s H. Leslie and Elaine S. Hoffman Professor in Cancer Research. “This recognition is well-deserved, and the AACR Academy will gain substantially from the participation of such a talented, collaborative researcher.”

Carpten, who also serves as professor and founding chair of translational genomics and founding director of the USC Institute of Translational Genomics, is an internationally recognized leader in cancer genomics and precision oncology, as well as a pioneer in investigating the biology behind disparities in cancer outcomes among populations.

The AACR has honored him previously, with its 2014 Distinguished Lectureship on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities. In 2016, the National Human Genome Research Institute invited him to deliver the Jeffrey M. Trent Lecture in Cancer Research, named in honor of the institute’s original scientific director and given by “a prominent cancer researcher who brings the kind of energy, creativity and enthusiasm to cancer research that Dr. Trent has exemplified throughout his career.”

Carpten’s current work focuses on personalizing cancer therapy to most effectively address the specific biochemical details of each patient’s disease. He studies the entire DNA and RNA sequences of tumors using next-generation instrumentation, in search of biochemical vulnerabilities that can be targeted with new or existing therapies.

With over 190 peer-reviewed publications and more than a dozen patents to his credit, Carpten has generated a number of landmark findings. He was one of the lead authors on the first study to probe the entire genome for inherited prostate cancer genes. Another key investigation resulted in the first identification of a true hereditary prostate cancer gene, labeled HOXB13.

He was also the lead author on a high-profile study that identified a novel oncogenic mutation in a gene called AKT1 that plays a role in the development of breast, colorectal and ovarian cancers. For multiple myeloma — which disproportionately affects African Americans — his lab has produced seminal research profiling common mutations in one genetic pathway and conducted the first study to comprehensively compare molecular alterations in tumors between Black and white patients.

Previous to his 2016 recruitment to USC’s faculty, Carpten served as deputy director of basic sciences and professor and division director of integrated cancer genomics at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Arizona. Before that, he was a tenure-track independent investigator at the National Human Genome Research Institute, where he had pursued his postdoctoral training after earning his doctorate from Ohio State University. He received his baccalaureate degree from Lane College in Tennessee.

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CHLA, Keck School, Keck Medicine and USC Norris partner on cell therapy program as construction on new facility begins

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CHLA, Keck School, Keck Medicine and USC Norris partner on cell therapy program as construction on new facility begins

March 12, 2021

By Landon Hall

the cGMP facility space before construction. From left: Mohamed Abou-el-Enein; Tom Buchanan; Alan S. Wayne; Caryn Lerman; Nikos Carli
In the cGMP facility space before construction. From left: Mohamed Abou-el-Enein; Tom Buchanan; Alan S. Wayne; Caryn Lerman; and Nikos Carli. (Photo/Sergio Bianco)

The essence of translational medicine is taking an idea from the drawing board and “translating” it into a real-world treatment that helps patients. The winding road of that process takes plenty of time, money and expertise, so it makes sense to place it all under one roof.

USC and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) are doing just that: Through a partnership among CHLA, the Keck School of Medicine of USC, Keck Medicine of USC, and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, construction has begun on a facility located on the USC Health Sciences Campus, where a multidisciplinary team of scientists will be studying, developing, manufacturing and testing cell-based treatments for a wide range of diseases and disorders. The new facility is part of a larger program, the USC/CHLA Cell Therapy Program, which will advance the science and translation of cell therapies at both institutions.

“Our vision is to advance cell therapy research at USC and CHLA so they can be leading centers and a hub for this type of research,” said Mohamed Abou-el-Enein, MD, PhD, MSPH, Executive Director of the USC/CHLA Cell Therapy Program. The new facility, a key component of the joint program, is scheduled to be completed in 2022, and Abou-el-Enein will serve as its Director.

“Having it established here will be a great enabler for all the scientific concepts being developed to really move forward into the clinic and treat hundreds of patients with incurable diseases,” he added.

Details on the high-tech facility

The planned 3,184-square-foot facility is being constructed in the basement of the Harlyne Norris Research Tower at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. It’s called a cGMP, which stands for Current Good Manufacturing Practice facility. The designation was created by the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the production of pharmaceuticals and other treatments, such as cell therapies, under controlled conditions so they would be safe and efficacious. The USC/CHLA cGMP facility will feature six individual “clean rooms” on a dedicated manufacturing floor to produce multiple products without the potential of cross-contamination.

The underground facility will include six “clean” rooms. From left: Alan S. Wayne; Tom Buchanan; Nikos Carli; Mohamed Abou-el-Enein; and Caryn Lerman. (Photo/Sergio Bianco)

The products to be made at the cGMP facility will be mainly cell therapeutics, which can be thought of as “living drugs” because they are living cells modified to treat disease. The goal is to tailor cells and tissues to treat individual patients based on their condition/medical needs.

“Cell therapies harness the sophisticated biology of cells, which have evolved over millions of years, to create treatments that can be precisely targeted to specific diseases and tailored to each individual patient,” said Tom Buchanan, MD, Professor of Medicine and Vice Dean for Research at the Keck School of Medicine. “Cells are taken from the patient, modified in the cGMP facility, and returned to the patient. In some cases, they are designed to kill harmful cells, for example cancer cells. In other cases, they can replace missing cells like cartilage in people with arthritis. It is all done with great precision that only cells can provide. This is truly precision medicine.”

Cell therapy has many applications

Cell therapies have potential application to many specialties of medicine, including cancer, ophthalmology, orthopedics, neurology and pediatrics, among many others.

“This new facility will allow us to develop and deliver new therapies to cure and treat children and adults with a wide variety of life-threatening diseases and conditions,” said Alan S. Wayne, MD, Director of the Cancer and Blood Disease Institute at CHLA. “We are extremely excited about the future, as these new cell therapies will allow us to treat diseases in completely new ways, bringing hope for the children we treat at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and around the globe.”

“We are thrilled to have this new facility,” added Caryn Lerman, PhD, Director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. “It is going to transform cancer research at USC Norris, enabling us to develop the next cures for patients with cancer. It will also help us to bring this therapeutic revolution to patients across Los Angeles County and beyond.”

Nikos Carli, Associate Administrator of Strategy and Cancer Services at Keck Medicine, said: “This new state-of-the-art facility furthers the impact of our clinicians and researchers in fulfilling USC Norris’s goal of making cancer a disease of the past. It’s very exciting to think scientific breakthroughs originating here will benefit the care of cancer patients across the globe.”

The USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center provided the space for the facility and contributed to the hiring of Abou-el-Enein, who focuses on translational development of cell therapies for clinical trials. Rongfu Wang, PhD, Director of Cell Therapy Research in the Division of Hematology-Oncology at CHLA, and Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at USC, will lead the pre-clinical development of cell therapies, with an emphasis on cancer.

The facility and overarching cell therapy program have been in development since 2018, when the first meeting among stakeholders was held. Its planning, execution and funding have been a collaborative effort across departments, disciplines and institutions.

“Our model is to create strong and meaningful partnerships with different researchers and scientists,” said Abou-el-Enein, who is a physician by training but has worked to master the intricacies of cell manufacturing for clinical research. “Of course, it takes more time, energy and manpower, but it ensures the success of translation, because usually scientists will be doing what they know best, and for them, translation is a huge task. And it is indeed huge.”

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Mohamed Abou-el-Enein named Executive Director of USC/CHLA Cell Therapy Program

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Mohamed Abou-el-Enein named Executive Director of USC/CHLA Cell Therapy Program

January 27, 2021

Mohamed Abou-el-Enein, MD, PhD, MSPH, has joined the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Keck School of Medicine, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles as the inaugural Executive Director of the Joint USC/CHLA Cell Therapy Program. He began his post Jan. 4.

Mohamed Abou-el-Enein

Abou-el-Enein will also serve as Medical Director of the new cGMP facility for cell and gene therapy that is under construction in the Norris Research Tower on the Health Sciences Campus, scheduled for completion in 2022.

In these roles, Abou-el-Enein will work closely with institutional leadership to provide vision and to oversee the development of a “one-stop-shop” translational platform that aims to assist investigators in bringing their basic work in cell and gene therapies into clinical testing.

Abou El-Enein has a primary faculty appointment as associate professor of clinical medicine in the Department of Medicine (oncology), with joint appointments in the Departments of Pediatrics and Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. He is also a member of the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The Cell Therapy Program and cGMP facility are part of a joint venture of the Keck School, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and Keck Medicine of USC.

Dr. Abou-el-Enein has extensive training and expertise in the area of cell and gene therapy development. He obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBCh) degree from Mansoura University in Egypt in 2005. In 2014, he completed a Masters of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies from the University of Strasburg in France, a Clinical Research Diploma from Harvard Medical School, and a PhD in the Economics of Manufacturing Clinical-Grade Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products from Charité Medical University in Berlin. He obtained an MPH from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Master in Manufacturing of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products from the University of Granada in Spain in 2020.

Abou-el-Enein most recently served as Head of the Clinical Development Platform and Head of Translational Research Unit at the BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies and Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies, respectively, both at the Charité Medical University in Berlin. Abou-el- Enein is one of the inaugural Lawrence Goldstein Policy Fellows of the ISSCR, associate Editor-in- Chief of Molecular Therapy – Methods and Clinical Development, served as regional secretary of the International Society of cell and gene therapy as well as on several other organizations and committees.

He has been recognized with multiple honors and awards, including the Max-Rubner Prize for Innovation and the Global Eisenhower Fellowship. His publications reflect global leadership in translational development of cell and gene therapy products in top-tier journals such as Cell Stem Cell, BMJ, Lancet Oncology, Molecular Therapy, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology.

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Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati earns AACR Distinguished Lectureship​

Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati earns AACR Distinguished Lectureship
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Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati earns AACR Distinguished Lectureship

October 29, 2020

Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati, PhD, MPH, Associate Dean for Community Initiatives, was the recipient of the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research Distinguished Lectureship on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities.

Báezconde-Garbanati presented her award lecture during the opening session of the virtual AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved on Oct. 2. Her lecture was titled “Optimizing engagement to reduce disparities among Hispanic/Latinos/Latinx and other underserved communities.”

This AACR lectureship recognizes an investigator whose novel and significant work has had or may have a far-reaching impact on the etiology, detection, diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of cancer health disparities.

Read the AACR release for more information.

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To prevent cancer, USC researchers look beyond traditional risk factors

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To prevent cancer, USC researchers look beyond traditional risk factors

September 15, 2020

 

By Sarah Nightingale

Researchers at USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center are integrating “big data” related to multiple cancer risk factors to predict cancer occurrence and to help reduce risk in susceptible populations. 

Why me? It’s a question doctors hear all the time when they diagnose people with cancer. If only the answer were simple.

“Cancer — which is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body — is a set of different diseases that arise from a complex interplay among environmental, genomic, lifestyle and sociodemographic factors,” said Caryn Lerman, the H. Leslie and Elaine S. Hoffman Cancer Research Chair and associate dean for cancer programs at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Lerman joined USC in March 2019 as the director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“While medical research has considerably advanced our understanding of cancer etiology, there is now a tremendous opportunity to translate this knowledge into precision cancer prevention in different ethnic and racial populations,” she added.

Among the first eight cancer centers to be designated by the National Cancer Institute in 1973, the nationally recognized USC Norris cancer center has been a leader in advancing what we know about cancer — a diagnosis received by 1.7 million Americans each year. USC Norris cancer center researchers have led and contributed to studies demonstrating the role of tobacco, physical activity and diet and obesity, among many other cancer risk factors. USC Norris investigators have also advanced our understanding of the genomic factors contributing to cancer risk.

To read full article on USC News, click HERE. 

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AACR Report on Cancer Disparities

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AACR Report on Cancer Disparities

This landmark AACR Report on Cancer Disparities was released on September 16, 2020, during a congressional briefing where Dr. John Carpten, co-leader of the USC Norris Translational and Clinical Sciences Program,  delivered the keynote address. Four congressmen delivered remarks, and our USC Norris patient navigator Ghecemy Lopez shared her stories. Additionally, Dr. Mariana Stern, associate director for population sciences at USC Norris,  was a member of the Steering Committee that Dr. Carpten chaired to organize this event.

To read the full report, click HERE. 

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Dr. Caryn Lerman, director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, shares why it’s important for patients to resume cancer screenings during the pandemic.

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Dr. Caryn Lerman, director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, shares why it's important for patients to resume cancer screenings during the pandemic

September 28, 2020

During the COVID-19 pandemic, cancer screenings dramatically decreased across the country. Early detection of cancer can improve the chances of survival. By delaying screening, patients are also delaying treatment and putting their health at risk. 

“At USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Keck Medicine, we are reaching out to our patients, emphasizing the many precautions we’ve put into place to protect their health, such as mask wearing, social distancing and frequent sanitizing of surfaces,” says Lerman. “In the age of COVID-19, it’s important for people to make, and keep, their cancer screening appointments. The coronavirus is not going away any time soon — and neither is cancer.”

To read the full article in the LA Times, click HERE. 

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New DNA Sequencing technique may help unravel genetic diversity of cancer tumors

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New DNA sequencing technique may help unravel genetic diversity of cancer tumors

June 25, 2020

By Laura LeBlanc

The ability to sequence the genome of a tumor has revolutionized cancer treatment over the last 15 years by identifying drivers of cancer at the molecular level. But understanding the genetic diversity of individual cells within a tumor and how that might impact the disease progression has remained a challenge, due to the current limitations of genomic sequencing. Using a microfluidic-droplet-based single cell sequencing method, USC researchers have simultaneously sequenced the genomes of close to 1,500 single cells, revealing genetic diversity previously hidden in a well-studied melanoma cell line.

The study, just published in Nature Communications Biology, demonstrates the ability of single-cell sequencing to reveal possible evolutionary trajectories of cancer cells.  

“We used this approach to examine a standard cancer cell-line, examined thousands of times by many different labs,” said David Craig, PhD, co-director of the Institute of Translational Genomics at Keck School of Medicine of USC and study author. “What was really surprising here was with this technology we uncovered complexity we did not expect. This line actually consistently became a mixture of different types of cells. Re-examining decades of prior work on this line — now with this new information — we have new insights into tumor evolution.”

Getting a high-resolution view of cancer’s complexity

Currently, the genetic information of a tumor is typically obtained by sequencing millions of tumor cells together, rather than individually. While this method offers a broad view of the genetic makeup of the tissue, it can miss small populations of cancer cells within a tumor that are different from the majority of cells.

With other approaches that analyze the DNA of individual cells, the process is laborious, taking weeks to process just a few cells and requiring resources that most laboratories do not have.

For this study, researchers used an emerging technique called “single-cell copy number profiling.” developed by 10X Genomics with novel analysis methods that integrated these results with those of historical methods.

“Instead of analyzing tissue DNA that is the average of thousands of cells, we analyzed the individual DNA of close to 1,500 cells within a single experiment,” said Dr. Enrique Velazquez-Villarreal, lead author and assistant professor of translational genomics at the Keck School. “Studying cancer at this higher resolution, we can discover information that lower-resolution bulk sequencing misses.”

Their analysis revealed at least four major sub-populations of cells, also known as clones, that are expected to have, at some point during the cancer cell line’s evolution, mutated from the original cancer cell.  

The ability to identify sub-clones in cancer tissue could provide important biological insights into how cancer progresses, how it spreads and why it can become resistant to treatment.

“What if there’s a small population of cells in a tumor that has acquired a change that makes them resistant to therapy? If you were to take that tumor and just grind it up and sequence it, you may not see that change,” said John Carpten, PhD, study author and  Co-Leader of the Translational and Clinical Sciences Program at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Chair of the Department of Translational Genomics, Keck School of Medicine, and Co-Director of the USC Institute for Translational Genomics. “If you go to the single cell level, you not only see it, but you can see the specific population of cells that has actually acquired that change. That could provide earlier access to the molecular information that could help define treatment approaches.”

The researchers plan to share their data in the hope that more cancer researchers will focus on single-cell sequencing. They are also using their technique to study genetic diversity in clinical cancer specimens as a way to better understand the early molecular changes that lead to aggressive and tough-to-treat advanced cancers.

About this study

In addition to Craig, Velazquez-Villarreal and Carpten, the study‘s other authors include Shamoni Maheshwari, Jon Sorenson, Ian T. Fiddes, Vijay Kumar, Yifeng Yin, and Claudia Catalanotti of 10x Genomics; and Mira Grigorova of Hutchison-MRC Research Centre, University of Cambridge; and Paul A. Edwards  of Hutchison-MRC Research Centre, University of Cambridge and Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute.

This study was supported by 10x Genomics, the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Department of Translational Genomics at Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California.

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Inherited mutation associated with higher prostate cancer risk in African American families

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Inherited mutation associated with higher prostate cancer risk in African American families

June 8, 2020

By Laura LeBlanc

For years, researchers have known that men of African ancestry are at greater risk of developing prostate cancer with research suggesting that inherited factors may contribute to their greater risk. 

Now, a new USC study published in European Urology is the first to identify an inherited genetic variant associated with higher risk of prostate cancer in men of African descent that contributes to the clustering of prostate cancer cases within families.

“About 12% of men of African ancestry carry this particular variant in the genome, which increases their risk two-fold. The variant is not found in other populations,” said Christopher Haiman, ScD, co-leader of the Cancer Epidemiology Program at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, study author and Professor of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “But it’s even more common in families with a history of prostate cancer.”

African American men at higher risk

One in six African American men develops prostate cancer in his lifetime. African American men are 1.8 times more likely to be diagnosed with—and 2.2 times more likely to die from—prostate cancer than white men. If a black man’s brother or father had prostate cancer, his risk will be even higher. But until now, there has been no genetic mutation or biomarker doctors could look for to determine if a particular African American man was more likely to get the disease.

While a prostate specific-antigen (PSA) blood test can detect prostate cancer, many of the cancers it detects may not cause harm, while treatment can cause life-altering side effects.

In the study, which is part of the RESPOND African American prostate cancer initiative, researchers looked at 9,052 prostate cancer cases among men of African ancestry. More than 23 percent had this specific genetic variant. The variant was strongly associated with a prostate cancer diagnosis at an earlier age, more aggressive disease, and men with a family history of prostate cancer. In fact 32 percent of the men with prostate cancer who had a family history of the disease carried the variant.

Variant could aid in screening and treatment decisions

This new information may eventually help clinicians identify men who could benefit from early prostate cancer screening and treatment.

“A man of African ancestry comes in and says, ‘Well, I have prostate cancer and I have a family history of the disease. Why?’ Well, now there’s a variant you can test to see if they and their family members carry it,” said Haiman. “This is a marker that down the road may be used to identify African-Americans and their family members who are at high risk and would benefit from more precise, targeted, and earlier PSA screening.”

Researchers believe this variant is one of the reasons why African American men are more likely to get prostate cancer and hope to find out more about the role genetic mutations play in their overall risk.

About this study

In addition to Haiman, the study’s other authors include Burcu F. Darst, Peggy Wan, Xin Sheng, Sue A. Ingles, John Carpten, Mariana C. Stern, David V. Conti, Susan M. Gundell, Loreall Pooler and Lucy Xia of the Keck School of Medicine of USC; Jeannette T. Bensen and James L. Mohler of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Benjamin A. Rybicki and Christine Neslund-Dudas of Henry Ford Hospital; Barbara Nemesure and Anselm J.M. Hennis of Stony Brook University; Esther M. John of Stanford University School of Medicine; Jay H. Fowke of The University of Tennessee Health Science Center; Victoria L. Stevens and Susan M. Gapstur  of the American Cancer Society; Sonja I. Berndt, Meredith Yeager and Stephen J. Chanock of the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Health; Chad D. Huff and Sara S. Strom, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Jong Y. Park, Thomas A. Sellers and Kosj Yamoah of the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute; Wei Zheng, Melinda C. Aldrich, Peter E. Clark and William J. Blot of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine; Elaine A. Ostrander of the National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health; Patrick C. Walsh and William B. Isaacs of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Medical Institutions; Shiv Srivastava, Gyorgy Petrovics and Jennifer Cullen of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; Adam B. Murphy of Northwestern University; Maureen Sanderson of Meharry Medical College; Dana C. Crawford and William S. Bush of Case Western Reserve University; Olivier Cussenot and Geraldine Cancel-Tassin of CeRePP; Rick A. Kittles of the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center; Jianfeng Xu of the NorthShore University HealthSystem; Zsofia Kote-Jarai, Koveela Govindasami and Rosalind A. Eeles of the Institute of Cancer Research; Anand P. Chokkalingam of the University of California, Berkeley; Luc Multigner, Florence Menegaux, Pascal Blanchet and Laurent Brureau of Inserm; Marie-Elise Parent of INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier; Adam S. Kibel of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Eric A. Klein of the Cleveland Clinic; Phyllis J. Goodman and Janet L. Stanford of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; Bettina F. Drake of the Washington University School of Medicine; Jennifer J. Hu of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; Graham Casey of the University of Virginia; Alexander Lubwama and Stephen Watya of the Makerere University College of Health Sciences; Ian M. Thompson Jr and Robin Leach of the University of Texas Health Science Center; Elizabeth T.H. Fontham and Diptasri Mandal of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center; Gary J. Smith of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Jack A. Taylor of the National Institute of Environmental Health Services; Kathleen Cooney of Duke University of Medicine.

This study was supported the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health (grants U19 CA148537, U19 CA214253, R01 CA165862, and K99 CA246063). Dr. Burcu F. Darst was supported in part by an award from the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Foundation Los Angeles Founder Chapter.

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USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center receives $5 million to advance cancer drug development

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USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center receives $5 million to advance cancer drug development

June 29, 2020

Gift supports underfunded pathway translating early research into cancer cures

LOS ANGELES — USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck Medicine of USC and the Keck School of Medicine of USC today announced a $5 million gift from the Rosalie and Harold Rae Brown Charitable Foundation. The gift was received from Harold R. Brown, trustee of the foundation, to create and support the Rosalie and Harold Rae Brown Center for Cancer Drug Discovery within the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The new center, named in honor of Brown’s parents, will focus on accelerating the development of groundbreaking cancer treatments.

“The importance of conducting research to develop more effective and less toxic cancer therapies cannot be overestimated,” says Caryn Lerman, PhD, director of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and associate dean for cancer programs at the Keck School. “This gift will enable us to leverage the talent of USC Norris scientists and dedicated clinicians and ensure that our groundbreaking discoveries move not from bench to bookshelf, but from bench to bedside, transforming cancer care and survivorship for all people.”

Brown, who will celebrate his 90th birthday in August, is a previous donor to USC Norris and graduated from USC with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1959.

“I have been fortunate to do well in business, and now through my efforts as trustee of the Rosalie and Harold Rae Brown Charitable Foundation, want to give back to a cause that is not only personally important to me, but addresses a great need in society, finding a cure for cancer,” says Brown. “Honoring my parents and creating the Rosalie and Harold Rae Brown Center for Cancer Drug Discovery at USC Norris is a rewarding and fitting legacy.”

This gift will have an immediate impact by supporting the development of new clinical trials that build on USC Norris discoveries of the underlying causes of cancer and disease progression. Initial projects will be sharply focused on cancers that disproportionately affect members of the community for whom there are dramatic ethnic and racial disparities, such as breast cancer, prostate cancer and colorectal cancer.

“This generous gift will help position USC Norris and the Keck School at the forefront of innovative cancer research and treatment,” says Laura Mosqueda, MD, dean of the Keck School. “It will significantly enhance our mission of finding cures and offering renewed hope for all who are impacted by cancer.”