"You can't have a medical school without basic science departments, and those departments can't be effective without research," said Stan Fowler, the associate dean for clinical research and special projects at USC's School of Medicine. "You want to teach your students the very latest–not what was new five years ago."

Since admitting its first class in 1977, the School of Medicine has been vitally committed to supporting its teaching with solid research. Last year, medical school faculty brought in more than $16.5 million in research grants, many of those projects focused on some of the world's most vexing medical problems.

In the early 1990s, the school established Centers of Research Excellence in cancer, geriatrics, neurosciences and behavioral medicine, bioethics, health care delivery, and cardiology.

"We knew early on that our research needed to coalesce into specific focus areas linked to our clinical strengths and the needs of South Carolinians," Fowler said. "That was the driving force behind our Centers of Research Excellence."

Don Allen, the medical school's associate dean for basic science research, was among a cadre of faculty who helped launch the school in 1975, bringing with them research grants and projects from their previous appointments.

"The caliber of our faculty involved in research has grown remarkably; throughout the year, several of them are invited to share their research findings at conferences around the world," Allen said. "These are people with international reputations."

Since the first class graduated 20 years ago, USC medical students have benefited from teaching based on relevant medical research. The benefits are reaching residents of South Carolina and beyond.

"We're considering launching a clinical trials program called the Clinical Research Infrastructure Program (CRISP)," Fowler said. "We want to give South Carolinians better access to more profound experimental therapies that are becoming available so that they don't have to go out of state to get the latest treatments."

Driving the development of such experimental treatments is genetic medicine, which could change the face of both medical education and medical research, Fowler said. "The information on the entire human genome–30,000 genes–can be put on a single microchip," Fowler said. "We now have the equipment in place to perform a DNA test on a cancerous tumor to determine which genes have been affected. This truly is a peek into the future of medicine."

Scientists from USC's College of Science and Mathematics, the School of Public Health, and the College of Engineering and Information Technology are joining School of Medicine researchers on many projects, lending expertise across scientific disciplines.

"Our faculty have been very aggressive about learning new technologies and putting that knowledge to use in new research projects," Fowler said. "That has benefited the whole University by drawing faculty from across the campuses into new fields of research."

The medical school, as part of its Centers of Research Excellence with Palmetto Health Alliance, also sponsors a summer internship program for undergraduate students, which introduces these students to biomedical research. These students, in turn, provide genuine assistance to medical school faculty in developing important research projects.

"The next few years will provide critical opportunities for the school," Fowler said. "Several of our faculty will be retiring, and we'll be looking to replace them with new faculty who have the same commitment to good teaching and research. To train competent doctors, you can't have one without the other."