Research Centers

USC Mann’s mission of innovation includes major research centers, institutes and partnerships that drive discovery, improve access to quality, cost-effective healthcare, and lead the convergence of science, healthcare and policy.

Center for Neuronal Longevity

The Center for Neuronal Longevity is a cross-campus, multi-school venture that brings together the Keck School of Medicine, Viterbi School of Engineering, and the USC Mann School to tackle the formidable challenges of neurodegenerative diseases of the eye and brain. Housed in the USC Ginsburg Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics, the USC Institute for Technology and Medical Systems, and the USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, CNL seeks to deepen our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases and transform the way we treat them.

USC Ginsburg Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics

The Ginsburg Institute fuses medicine and engineering to develop therapeutic options for debilitating neurosensory disorders that currently have no cure. The interdisciplinary institute unites the USC Mann School with the Viterbi School of Engineering, Keck School of Medicine, and Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences to foster boundary-breaking discovery. The institute also bridges the academy and industry to speed these advances in neural and biomedical engineering to the people who need them. The institute’s inventions include the Argus II retinal implant, which uses electrical stimulation from a computer chip to help blind patients regain some of their vision.

California Right Meds Collaborative

The USC Mann School heads this network of health plans, pharmacies, and academic and professional organizations. Together, we advance the pharmacist’s role in achieving healthier patients and communities through comprehensive medication management—the standard of care for assessing every medicine a person uses to ensure appropriateness, effectiveness and safety. The initiative turns patients into partners with pharmacists and physicians, ensuring that vital medications are chosen, prescribed—and taken—for the best results and fewest side effects possible. The school’s leadership of the initiative is supported by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute

The USC Mann School plays a key role in the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), a multifaceted resource focused on improving healthcare and outcomes through leading-edge research conducted in partnership with local communities. Launched in 2008 with a $56.8 million award from the National Institutes of Health, CTSI helps speed the transformation of basic and clinical research into viable therapies and cures. With more than 100 clinicians, scientists and specialists across USC and partner institutions, CTSI conducts innovative clinical and community trials, trains tomorrow’s scientists, offers educational outreach to community members, builds the region’s research infrastructure and aims to improve the health of diverse populations in urban settings.

Center for Drug Discovery and Development

True innovation demands a collision of ideas. This interdisciplinary center assembles scientists from across USC, uniting their diverse knowledge to achieve potential breakthroughs. Their expertise encompasses pharmacology, toxicology, regulatory science and other fields to expedite the laboratory discovery and clinical trials necessary for bringing vital new treatments to patients more quickly—and safely—than ever. 

Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics

A partnership between the USC Mann School and the Price School of Public Policy, the Schaeffer Center brings together health policy experts, seasoned pharmacoeconomics specialists, and faculty across USC and other leading institutions to solve pressing challenges in healthcare. Established in 2009, the center offers data-driven solutions for improving the value of healthcare and expanding its reach. Lawmakers, community leaders, industry executives and journalists turn to the center for unbiased, evidence-based answers about urgent health challenges. The center produces approximately 20 events each year that move forward the conversation on topics ranging from biopharmaceutical innovation to insurance market reforms. Center scholars author an average of 100 papers annually, more than half of which are published in top-tier journals.

The Titus Center for Medication Safety and Population Health

Proper medication use is crucial to better outcomes and patient safety, as well as to reducing avoidable healthcare costs. Established in 2021 through a gift from the estate of longtime supporter Susie Titus, the center works to ensure that patients get the right medication at the right doses with the best plan for taking them. The Titus Center builds on the school’s foundational work in connecting community pharmacists to patients with persistently uncontrolled chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and asthma. Helping people understand how to use each medicine correctly also helps avoid dangerous drug interactions when treating chronic conditions. The ultimate results will be healthier communities and more affordable and equitable care.

Center for Quantitative Drug and Disease Modeling

Computing advances enable drug effectiveness and disease progression to be modeled with a predictive accuracy previously thought impossible. As a result, quantitative modeling is now an essential part of pharmaceutical development. Just as quantitative modeling is revolutionizing medicine, the center is shaping how research data is recorded, managed and integrated to enhance the process of therapeutic discovery and development. The center is also a vital training ground for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows on model-informed drug discovery and development.

D. K. Kim International Center for Regulatory Science

Part of the school’s Department of Regulatory and Quality Sciences, the D. K. Kim Center is renowned for training, professional development, research and analysis that fosters regulatory harmonization to improve health globally. We build worldwide networks to foster uniform standards for maximum safety and effectiveness of drugs and devices as well as to encourage greater international cooperation. Policymakers and executives from around the globe depend upon center resources, while the educational offerings here spur professionals to greater career heights. The center also serves as a nucleus for worldwide outreach to underserved communities to promote better health and sustainability.