Today, the Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Biomedical Engineering and the University of Southern California are announcing a major initiative to advance human understanding in pharmaceutical sciences and biomedical engineering, and to facilitate greater integration with USC’s academic research community.

More than 20 years ago, USC received a generous gift from Alfred E. Mann to support innovation and commercialization in biomedical engineering at USC. Over the years, the endowment has increased to a present value of more than $230 million. Working together, the foundation and the university developed a plan to take advantage of this substantial growth and ensure Dr. Mann’s original vision and intent are being fully realized.

We are announcing four aspects of this plan today:

First, $50 million will be used to name and endow the USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. This is the largest gift for a school of pharmacy in California and the second largest endowment for a school of pharmacy nationwide.

Second, $35 million will be used to name and endow the Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. This is one of the largest naming gifts to a biomedical engineering department in the country.

Endowing the pharmacy school and this department at Viterbi will increase funding for hiring faculty, supporting students, and building and increasing commercialization of research in areas combining bioengineering with health care, biomedicine, pharmacy, and clinical practice. It also allows USC to recruit and retain world-class researchers and train the most outstanding students.

Third, reflecting profound growth in the interdisciplinary nature of these areas, USC is creating several new endowed chairs to bring together faculty from multiple schools to support critical research and innovation at the Keck School of Medicine of USC; USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; and both the newly named pharmacy school and biomedical engineering department.

Fourth, $80 million will be used to endow and support the USC Alfred E. Mann Institute. Established at USC in 1998, it accelerates biomedical technology and creates commercially successful medical products by seeding translational research by our faculty and students where it can be most effective in advancing human health and well-being.

The university is deeply grateful to the late Alfred E. Mann, a beloved trustee for many years who was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2001. Dr. Mann also served on the Board of Overseers of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He was a humanitarian and visionary entrepreneur, and a pioneer in both biopharmaceuticals and biomedical technology. With this initiative, USC ensures that Dr. Mann’s mission to improve daily human life will continue well into the next century.

I’ll have even more to share in the coming months about this sweeping initiative, including celebrations we are planning for the spring. There are so many opportunities before us – to benefit not just the Trojan Family, but all humankind.