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Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism University of Southern California
Southern California

Viterbi Receives Multi-Million Dollar Endowment

The gift will go towards research at the intersection of engineering and medicine.

USC's Viterbi School of Engineering announced Wednesday a new endowed chair funded by a multi-million dollar gift from the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation.

The foundation is led by philanthropist and surgeon Patrick Soon-Shiong, who donated the money to help facilitate research at the engineering school's Brain-Body Dynamics Lab and Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems. 

The endowed chair will be rewarded to a Viterbi Professor, and it will "target research that is at the intersection of engineering and medicine but specifically at computer science, mobile vision and robotics," according to Michael Chung, the Communications and Marketing Senior Manager at Viterbi. 

Current projects this gift will help fund include reverse engineering brain control of the hand for artificial limbs and designs of smart vision for the visually impaired. 

The multi-million dollar gift is unique to the Viterbi School because it is at the forefront in celebrating the intersection of engineering and medicine, Chung said. 

This is not Soon-Chiang's first monetary gift. The doctor, who once pioneered treatments for diabetes and types of cancer, including co-developing the breast cancer treatment drug Abraxane, gave $100 million to the University of California Board of Regents to help re-open a public hospital.

USC President C.L. Max Nikias said, "Many of the most promising scientific revolutions of coming decades will take place at the intersection of engineering and medicine and this new chair will allow USC's faculty to play a leading role in such revolutions."

 

RELATED:

USC to Embark on Record Fundraising Campaign

USC alumnus and trustee donates $110 million to USC

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