QSAD is an abbreviation of the Latin inscription formerly written on prescriptions, quantum sufficit ad: “as much as is sufficient.”
This ancient phrase inspired the mission of QSAD Centurion, the premier support group of USC Mann whose members contribute funds to maintain USC’s excellence as a center of pharmacy education.
Over its nearly 60-year history, QSAD Centurion has raised over $3 million for USC Mann, enhancing the student experience by contributing to capital projects and technology updates to ensure students have a state-of-the-art learning environment.
Members’ contributions strengthen educational and research opportunities, sponsor hands-on community service experiences, and underwrite the annual White Coat ceremony for incoming PharmD students.
“Everyone Is Interconnected”
QSAD members come from a variety of perspectives and walks of life, united by a shared love of the School and a desire to support the next generation, believing that all students should have the same opportunities they were once afforded.
“It’s a way of giving back,” says Jana Cohen (PharmD ’73, MBA ’88), who joined the QSAD board earlier this year after retiring from a successful career that included being director of pharmacy at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and hospital business manager at Merck & Co., Inc. “Everyone is interconnected and the relationships made at USC don’t go away.”
Now living in Napa with her husband Jordan Cohen, a former USC School of Pharmacy faculty member, former dean of University of Iowa College of Pharmacy and University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, Jana Cohen traveled down to Los Angeles for her first board meeting earlier this spring.
“I’ve always appreciated the education I got at USC,” she says, explaining why she’s literally willing to “go the extra mile” to support the School, in addition to contributing to the scholarship endowment. “It’s important to get involved.”
Leading the Pharmacy Profession
Being involved in QSAD means being connected with enthusiastic, generous, successful alumni who are committed to ensuring the best and brightest students continue to attend USC. “We are here to keep USC as the leader of the pharmacy profession,” says incoming Board President-elect Larry Jung (PharmD ‘77).
In addition to his involvement with QSAD, Jung, who owned his own pharmacy for many years, has contributed to the scholarship endowment, established a scholarship for undergraduate pre-pharmacy students through USC Asian Pacific Alumni Association, and supports the professional and leadership fund of his pharmacy fraternity, Alpha Iota Pi. He is a USC Associate, a USC Ambassador, a Cardinal Gold member and a Galen Founder.
“Cost should never be the reason that an outstanding student is not able to attend USC,” he says. “The solution is increasing our scholarships—we need all alumni involved—every gift to the school counts.”
Living and Breathing the Trojan Family Spirit
A desire to remain connected with the school and keep it at the top of its game has motivated current Board President Patty Wong-Dion (PharmD ’74, FCSHP), to serve on the QSAD board for the past nine years, after retiring in 2002 as associate director of pharmacy services for L.A. County+USC Medical Center.
“QSAD is an organization of enthusiastic alumni, friends and faculty who love and want to support the school,” says Wong-Dion, a USC football season-ticket holder since the 1970s who has also contributed to scholarship endowment. “There’s a closeness, a camaraderie. The Trojan family spirit, we live and breathe it, all the time.”
One of her favorite moments as a QSAD board member, she says, is assisting in “coating” new PharmD students at the annual White Coat ceremony, as they begin their studies at the School. “They just glow with enthusiasm and smiles and energy, then when we see them four years later at the Senior/Alumni Awards Banquet, these same expressions of enthusiasm, smiles and energy accompanied by their earned accomplishments are evident as they are raring to go into practice when they graduate. I love seeing how proud their parents and families are. It’s so heart-warming.”
For more information, contact Cheryl Stanovich (stanovic@usc.edu. ) at 323-442-1738.