“Being in the school of pharmacy allows me the opportunity to interact with biochemists, pharmaceutical scientists, and bioengineers. We’re in very close proximity to the cancer center, so we always have access to patient samples. And this is a very important source to translate our findings into validating them into patient cohorts but also bringing ideas from patients and trying to study them in the lab. That interaction with the clinicians, the hematologists, the oncologists at the cancer center is absolutely important.” 

“We’re not just one discipline. Our work goes from basic discovery to experimental therapeutics all the way to clinical trials to clinicians implementing what we study and what we find in the clinic. We cover the entire spectrum of pharmaceutical discovery and health implementation.”

“I love the interdisciplinary nature of this university, the fact that you can come to a place that has a school of pharmacy and a great medical school and hospital. Where I sit in the Schaeffer Center blending pharmacy, medicine, and policy in one place allows me to work on interdisciplinary studies. When I’m doing new research, I hit the ground running by finding out who else on this campus does work that can complement my thinking and come to solutions that are not just policy-relevant, but can be implemented at the bedside to improve care for the patient.”

“USC has always been at the forefront of everything having to do with pharmacy and healthcare. We are innovative, we are generous in our time, we give to the community.”

“My overall picture is to understand how the body heals wounds. And that could include a trauma or your daily turnover, and that could be the wounds. So the spectrum of activity could be regeneration of your body. If we understand that, can we prevent you from aging, prevent you from getting diseases like Alzheimer’s, blindness? And so this is where we’re working on developing drugs to promote regeneration.”

“My work focuses on applying economic principles to the healthcare environment, particularly the market for pharmaceuticals and prescription drugs.  We’re trying to focus on how we bring value to the healthcare space, particularly pharmaceutical pricing. Drugs are very expensive, and we think they should be priced based on their value as opposed to demand or what a firm can charge.”

“It’s been exciting all along to be a part of finding therapies that can cure this disease. And there’s a huge community that’s led by the patients, who set up the foundation. Basic scientists, physicians, respiratory therapists, dietitians, everyone is engaged in a multidisciplinary approach. And working with those colleagues to figure out what’s the best way to treat these patients has been very rewarding.”