As one of the nation's top ten private research universities, USC has a long history of breakthroughs in medicine and life sciences. USC's innovative medical and life science curricula, combined with interdisciplinary biomedical research and graduate training programs, encourage and inspire innovation that impacts our lives in the most fundamental way.

USC has been home to a number of surgical firsts. In 1993, the first double-lobar lung transplant was conducted from living-related donors. That same year, the first gene therapy was performed on a newborn.  In 1999, USC physicians conducted the first transfusion-free live donor liver transplant, followed by the first dual kidney and liver transplant from live donors in 2001. Dr. Ross Bremner was the first surgeon in the country to remove a benign chest tumor using a surgical robot aptly named da Vinci in 2001 as well. As part of an FDA-approved trial, USC was home to the first implantation of a retinal prosthesis into a patient in 2002.

In another first for USC, fertility specialists at the Keck School of Medicine recorded the nation's first triplets born from the mother's eggs preserved in liquid nitrogen. The ability to freeze a woman's eggs for possible future pregnancies is critical to those who may face infertility, particularly cancer patients who may lose fertility due to treatment or women facing early menopause. The practice of cryopreserving unfertilized eggs remains rare. Approximately 200 babies have been born worldwide using this technique.

Virtual reality isn't just the domain of filmmaking and video games. At the USC School of Dentistry's Craniofacial Virtual Reality Laboratory, researchers are developing the technology to recreate 3-D images of a person's face and mouth in order to train surgeons and even predict the results of corrective surgery. Today many dentists and surgeons must rely on X-rays, photographs, and stone models. A virtual model could dramatically improve how dentists determine treatments and explain dental procedures to their patients.

Snake venom isn't typically on the list of healing substances, but USC faculty member Francis Markland has found a way to use the potent liquid to help break up blood clots and perhaps serve as a tool to fight cancer.  His initial work with snake venom resulted in an adapted compound called fibrolase which can be used to dissolve blood clots in the legs and lungs. Today, the drug is called alfimeprase. His more recent work involves the use of contortrostatin, a protein found in the venom of the copperhead snake, to restrict the movement of certain cancerous tumor cells.

Inspiring the next generation of scientists and innovators is part of the mission of the  Led by USC School of Pharmacy faculty member Dr. Roberta Diaz Brinton, the program invites inner city high school students to join a USC science research team for one or more years as part of their school curriculum. More than 50 USC research labs participate in the program.