In memoriam: Althea Alexander, MD 

The Keck School of Medicine of USC community mourns the July 17 passing of Althea Alexander, MD, a long-time member of the USC faculty and the inaugural assistant dean of diversity and inclusion. Over the span of her career, Althea and her late husband Fredric’s advocacy enabled more than 800 students from traditionally underrepresented groups in medicine to graduate from the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

When Alexander first joined the faculty in 1968, there was only one African American and one Latino student enrolled in USC’s medical school. She made it her mission to increase the number of underrepresented students at the Keck School, and to help provide them with the support and mentorship they needed to ensure they graduated.

As the inaugural assistant dean of diversity and inclusion, Alexander led Keck’s diversity initiatives from 1969 to 2019. A one-woman team at the start, Alexander passionately strove to develop a diverse health care workforce. By recruiting, mentoring, and supporting hundreds of students from underrepresented communities, she advanced structural change and modeled for the Keck School how to build and support an inclusive campus.

“Althea Alexander played a pivotal role in advancing racial and gender equity in health care and the sciences at the Keck School, in fact, across our country,” said Joyce Richey, a faculty member in the department of Physiology and Biophysics, and Althea’s successor as the current associate dean for diversity and inclusion at the Keck School. “Simply put, she was a living giant, and we are truly indebted for her tremendous contributions in bridging the gaps in diversity, equity, and inclusion in medicine.”

Alexander was recognized with the Distinguished Faculty Award in 2017 for her advocacy, leadership, and lasting impact.

Alexander’s efforts provided financial assistance, professional guidance, and academic support to every student under her wing, while prioritizing personal relationships and emotional support. Her office evolved into a home-away-from-home where underrepresented students felt safe and cared for. She inspired her students to serve their communities and to model for other underrepresented young people that a medical career is within their reach. A 1992 profile from the Los Angeles Times exemplifies the depth of her effect on others with numerous anecdotes from students about the lasting and meaningful impact she had on their lives and careers. In a recent Daily Trojan article, California Surgeon General Diana Ramos, MD, credits Alexander as one of her key mentors during her time at the Keck School.

Althea’s legacy lives on in a multitude of ways at the Keck School. In 1997, alumna Willa Olsen, MD, who credits Alexander with recruiting and mentoring hundreds of underrepresented students through the rigors of medical school, established the Althea Alexander Endowed Scholarship Fund. In 2016, a group of alumni established the Althea and Frederic Alexander Student Support Fund to provide students with the resources they need to excel by offering financial assistance for conference travel, research expenses, and educational and professional projects. Since 2016, the Fund has supported more than 50 talented students.

In lieu of flowers, the Alexander family invites all those Althea helped to continue her legacy of uplifting tomorrow’s health care leaders by contributing to the Althea and Frederic Alexander Student Support Fund at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.