Education

This fellowship which commenced in 2001 with the endowment established by Dr. Sheng-Pu Lee, offers hands-on research training for undergraduate, Master, and medical students. The program which is aimed at supporting and inspiring the interest of these students in research on the center’s theme, has trained 129 student fellows to date. Accepted fellows work full-time for 8 weeks during the summer on projects related to the Center theme in the Center member’s laboratories. The fellowship committee (Drs. Said, Stiles) reviews applications and select the fellows based on: 1) the student eligibility and potential; 2) clarity and feasibility of the research summary; and 3) the mentor’s enthusiasm in their LOS. Since 2018, 46 Fellows have completed the program including 2 high school senior, 27 undergraduate, 16 Master’s and PhD, 14 medical/pharmacy students plus 4 pre-med research interns. The Fellows presented their research progress following brief mentor’s introduction at the Progress Report meeting held on the second Friday of August and receive a certificate and an $1000 award.

Graduate and Post-Graduate Educational Program

A two-unit graduate course INTD570 entitled “Current Topics in Cellular Homeostasis” offered in the Spring semester at USC, is supported by the Administrative Core and coordinated by the Course Directors, Drs. Harn, Stiles, and Tsukamoto. The principle of the course is to offer graduate and post-graduate students opportunities to directly learn from and interact with leading-edge scientists in diverse fields of cellular homeostasis. See below for more information on INTD570.

Postdoctoral Training

The center actively supports predoctoral and postdoctoral training. Programs include seminars, mini-workshops, progress report meetings, and annual symposia that showcase research, promote collaboration, and provide opportunities to learn from senior scientists.

To recognize and honor outstanding ore and postdoctoral research, the center established the Samuel W. French Junior Scientist Award in honor of the late Professor Sam French. Center members nominate trainees who submit abstracts and biosketches. The committee evaluates submissions and selects 3–4 junior and 3–4 senior trainees to present at the annual symposium. External Scientific Advisory Board members evaluate presentations and research quality, discussing scores in a closed session to determine awardees. The inaugural 2025 awardees were Jieun Kim from Cedars, Raya Toneti from UCSD, Wonsuk Choi from UCI, and Jyoti Chimmawal from Cedars We will continue to recognize and revere the center trainees’ contributions to the center research via this award.

Since 2018, 152 postdocs have trained in center labs, with 34 securing faculty positions, including 14 at U.S. universities. Of these, K08 awards were obtained by Drs. Dara, Lai, and Zarrinpar; K23 by Dr. Lee; VA Career Development awards by Drs. Benhammou, Jacob, Jacobs; AASLD Pinnacle, Emerging Scholar, Early Career Investigator awards by Drs. Llorente, Hartmann, Chu, Lang.These achievements reflect effective mentorship from senior investigators, as well as support from center Cores and Pilot Project programs.

The Lee Summer Student Fellowship program which commenced in 2001 with the endowment established by Dr. Sheng-Pu Lee, offers hands-on research training for undergraduate, Master, and medical students. The program which is aimed at supporting and inspiring the interest of these students in research on the center’s theme, has trained 137 student fellows to date. Accepted fellows work full-time for 8 weeks during the summer on projects related to the Center theme in the Center member’s laboratories. The Fellowship Committee reviews applications and select the fellows based on:

1. The student eligibility and potential
2. Clarity and feasibility of the research summary
3. The mentor’s enthusiasm in their LOS.

After the completion of the fellowship, each accepted Fellow presents her/his research progress following a brief mentor’s introduction at the Progress Report meeting held on the second Friday of August and receive a certificate and an award ($1,000-1,500). Additionally, the Outstanding Performance Award ($500) is offered to 1-2 Lee Fellows based on the evaluation of the presentations by the Fellowship Committee.

2025 Summer Application Deadline: June 3, 2025 (Decision notified by June 7th)

**Apply early as funds are limited**

Please click here to download the 2025 Lee Summer Fellowship Details.

The Administrative Core supports the Outreach Committee in planning and implementing the center’s outreach program to share ALPD research with communities of high prevalence. Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati, Chair of the Outreach Committee, leads these efforts with a focus on health disparities in Hispanic populations, making her well-suited to guide outreach where ALPD incidence is highest.

In May 2019, the Center partnered with LA County’s Alcohol and Drug Administration Program to host the seminar, “Dangerous Health Effects of Alcohol: What Your Patients and Clients Need to Know,” attended by 65 interdisciplinary professionals. Evaluation by Yaneth Rodriguez, MPH, under Dr. Thomas Valente, showed a 19 percent increase in correct responses, demonstrating improved knowledge and awareness.

Supported by the Center’s endowment and gift accounts and administratively supported by the Administrative Core, we plan to offer one or two seminars during each P50 cycle.
Administrative Core, we plan to offer one or two seminars in each cycle of the P50 program.

Outreach Committee Members:

• Baezconde-Garbanti, Lourdes
• Lu, Shelly C.
• Saab, Sammy
• Pandol, Stephen J.

The Interdepartmental (INTD) 570 (formerly Pathology 575) Frontiers in Pathology – Cellular Homeostasis Lecture Series is a 2-unit graduate course offered each spring at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Coordinated by Drs. Hidekazu Tsukamoto, Hans Harn, and Bangyan Stiles, the course gives graduate and postdoctoral students the opportunity to learn from and interact with leading scientists in cellular homeostasis.

Taught by invited speakers, the course is open to graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and other interested participants. While lectures may not directly cover ALPD, they address current research in cell and molecular biology relevant to its pathogenesis. Mastery of advanced cellular homeostasis concepts supports a deeper understanding of these diseases.

Except for 2020, when the course was canceled due to COVID-19, 69 master’s and Ph.D. students have registered over the past seven years. The course remains a popular interdepartmental seminar, recommended by the Systems Biology and Disease and Experimental and Molecular Pathology programs since 2008.

Course Description

Weekly research lectures by leading investigators in the field of cellular homeostasis held every Thursday from 12:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. at the Health Sciences Campus of USC.

Student Attendance

The student attendance will be recorded for all seminars. The last class will be the first Thursday in May. Students are required to attend a majority of the seminars.

Student Comprehension

The student will be required to understand the hypothesis and results obtained for key publication(s) by a lecturer, which will be available on Blackboard at least one week prior to each lecture. Immediately after each lecture, the students will have a separate Q&A discussion session with the speaker to help promote the understanding of the speaker´s research from both scientific and philosophical viewpoints. Following the lecture series, the student will prepare a 20-min summary presentation on a selected lecture topic. This presentation session will take place in the last 3 classes. Student presentations will be held in MMR 408 (conference room).

Student Evaluation

Each student will be evaluated by:

1. Lecture participation in discussions (15%)
2. Activity in student-lecturer discussion (20%)
3. Leading student-lecturer discussion as a moderator (15%)
4. A 20-min summary presentation on the selected paper (50%)

Student Presentation

Each PowerPoint presentation should be 20 min summarizing:

1. Background
2. A central hypothesis
3. Key findings presented during a lecture
4. Other studies related to the lecture
5. Interpretation and conclusions including your own thoughts and opinions

Each presentation will be followed by a 10 min question/discussion session. Email your PowerPoint presentation to  the Course Directors or bring a CD or USB memory stick to MMR 412 by 11:00 a.m. of assigned Thursday (dates will be assigned later in the course).

Grading

Letter grading (A-C) will be given based on the above criteria.