Research Centers
The USC School of Pharmacy is home to—or a primary collaborator in—four major research centers dedicated to uncovering scientific breakthroughs and ensuring the delivery and cost-effectiveness of quality health care.
Center for Drug Discovery and Development
Housed at the School of Pharmacy, the USC Center for Drug Discovery and Development assembles a diverse group of scientists from throughout the university with expertise in all aspects of the design and synthesis of potential pharmacological breakthroughs. The Center benefits from a team of pharmacologists, toxicologists, and pharmaceutical and regulatory scientists skilled at expediting evaluation of a wide range of therapeutics to bring new innovations more quickly to patients who need them, while assuring safety and effectiveness.
International Center for Regulatory Science
At the intersection of innovation and safety, the International Center for Regulatory Science at the USC School of Pharmacy fosters the benchmarking of best practices and shortening the critical path for pharmaceutical advances and groundbreaking new medical devices. The Center combines experts in the diverse scientific, public policy, legal and social issues involved in regulatory practice today to help make health care products faster, safer and better. Research at the Center emphasizes the potential efficiencies that facilitate the arrival of products to market in a cost-effective way while still ensuring safety.
Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics
A unique partnership between the USC School of Pharmacy and the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development (SPPD), the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics promotes transformation of the health care system using evidence-based research to challenge assumptions, advance policy and reshape health care. The Center builds upon the School of Pharmacy’s early leadership in pharmacoeconomics with an interdisciplinary team of collaborators across numerous disciplines and institutions. The Center also is educating a new generation of health care leaders to promote better-informed, data-driven policy solutions in both the public and private sectors.
Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute
The USC School of Pharmacy is a key partner and three USC Pharmacy faculty play leading roles in the National Institutes of Health-funded Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), which serves to translate scientific discoveries into new advances in clinical and community health. Launched with a prestigious $56.8 million Clinical and Translational Science Award from the NIH, the Center aims to speed research from laboratories to sustainable public health solutions with a particular focus on improving the health of diverse populations in urban settings such as Los Angeles.
Research highlights
A continuous recipient of NIH funding since 1994, Dr. Hamm-Alvarez is developing an inexpensive and easy-to-use new diagnostic tool that could dramatically reduce the current average of seven years to diagnose Sjogren’s syndrome.
Is there a connection between menopause and the development of Alzheimer’s disease?
Two-thirds of those afflicted with Alzheimer’s are women, and Roberta Diaz Brinton, PhD, has found a key link between brain health at menopause and the likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease onset 20 years later.
The School of Pharmacy houses numerous research faculty whose work centers on new insights and approaches to metabolic disorders such as diabetes, as well as exploring the relationship between premature aging and diabetes.
How do you increase patient access to medication while reducing costs?
Patients who need prescriptions, such as statins for moderate risk of coronary heart disease, have improved access and increased utilization rates when those drugs are moved to behind-the-counter status with a pharmacist to provide counseling and medication management.
Alcohol abuse and dependence affects more than 17 million Americans and costs nearly $200 billion annually. The USC School of Pharmacy is at the forefront of efforts to understand the neurochemical basis of brain function and behavior that is crucial to the development of new approaches to prevent and treat alcoholism, drug abuse and psychological disorders.
The USC School of Pharmacy is a key partner in the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), funded with a $56.8 million NIH award and aimed at speeding research from the laboratory into sustainable public health solutions.
