The USC Gayle and Edward Roski Eye Institute, part of

Keck School of Medicine of USC The USC Keck School of Medicine is the medical school of the University of Southern California. The school teaches and trains physicians, biomedical scientists and other healthcare professionals, conducts medical research, and treats patients. F ...

, is a center for ophthalmic care, research and education located in downtown

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California. It has subsidiary clinics in

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...

and Arcadia. It was allied with the

Doheny Eye Institute Doheny Eye Institute (Doheny Eye or DEI) established in 1947, is a nonprofit ophthalmic research institute. The doctors and scientists of Doheny Eye Institute undertake basic and clinical research, a role known as a physician-scientist. History I ...

from 1975 until 2013, when Doheny allied with

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Cal ...

History

Ophthalmology Ophthalmology (, ) is the branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and surgery of eye diseases and disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a ...

at the

attained departmental status in 1974 and opened its first building on the USC Health Sciences Campus in 1975. Although an ophthalmology residency program existed at USC prior to that time, there were no full-time faculty members in the department. Stephen J. Ryan was recruited in 1974 and served as the department’s first professor and chairman through 1995. In 1975, the

allied with USC's Ophthalmology department under Ryan and relocated to the USC campus. The alliance "provided Dr. Ryan the opportunity to recruit and build the institute’s department from the ground up. Thus began the transformation of the institute into one of the top university based ophthalmic teaching, clinical, and research centers....Dr. Ryan built Doheny into a respected institution. In 2011 alone, Doheny scientists received $21.8 million in federal and state grants and published more than 180 scientific papers." All of the

's doctors were appointed as USC faculty members.Alex Ortolani For Law360. October 28, 201
USC Focuses Ire On Eye Institute Over Lease Permits
/ref> The

built a new building on USC's campus in 1985 to provide clinical facilities for USC's ophthalmology faculty. In 2011, USC and the

fell into a dispute over renovations, permits, and other matters related to the building, which led to litigation. In 2013, the

ended its relationship with USC and entered into an exclusive, long-term affiliation with

Ronald E. Smith served as department chairman from 1995 to 2013, and left USC to follow Doheny, and became vice chair of the department at UCLA. Mark S. Humayun took over as chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the

in November 2013, and in February 2014,

Rohit Varma Rohit Varma is an Indian-American ophthalmologist and professor of ophthalmology and preventive medicine. In 2014, he was named director of the USC Eye Institute and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology for Keck School of Medicine of USC. ...

was appointed director of the USC Eye Institute. In April 2016 it received a $25 million gift from

Edward P. Roski Edward P. Roski Jr. (born 1938) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is a billionaire, president of Majestic Realty, and appeared at #115 on the Forbes 400 in 2021, and owns more than 83 million square feet of real estate across the ...

and his wife, Gayle, and was renamed in their honor.

Research

Members of the Institute have made contributions to vision research, some prior to arriving at USC such as two of the inventors of

optical coherence tomography Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a high-resolution imaging technique with most of its applications in medicine and biology. OCT uses coherent near-infrared light to obtain micrometer-level depth resolved images of biological tissue or oth ...

, Carmen A. Puliafito (as of 2007, Dean of the Keck School of Medicine) and David Huang, who did his residency at USC. Dr. Mark Humayun, who joined the faculty of the

in 2001, was a co-inventor of a retinal prosthesis that became the basis for the formation of the company, Second Sight, in 1998.Second SIght. Nov 14, 201
Second Sight Amendment No. 3 to Form S-1: Registration Statement
/ref> Their first-generation implant had 16 electrodes and was implanted in 6 subjects by Humayun at

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

between 2002 and 2004; Humayan has participated in subsequent clinical trials as well. Ophthalmologist George Baerveldt, while he was at USC, developed the most commonly used

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can lead to damage of the optic nerve. The optic nerve transmits visual information from the eye to the brain. Glaucoma may cause vision loss if left untreated. It has been called the "silent thief of ...

implant in the world, the Baerveldt glaucoma implant. In December 2013, David Hinton and Mark S. Humayun won a $19 million grant from the

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is a state agency that supports research and education in the fields of stem cell and gene therapies. It was created in 2004 after 59% of California voters approved California Proposition ...

to conduct a clinical trial in which the use of

embryonic stem cell Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are Cell potency#Pluripotency, pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst, an early-stage pre-Implantation (human embryo), implantation embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4� ...

s to treat

age-related macular degeneration Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD), is a medical condition which may result in blurred or no vision in the center of the visual field. Early on there are often no symptoms. Some people experien ...

will be tested.

''U.S. News & World Report''

In 2014-15, USC Eye Institute and USC Department of Ophthalmology retained the No. 9 spot in the national rankings of “Best Hospitals” by '' U.S. News & World Report''. The faculty of the USC Department of Ophthalmology has earned Top 10 recognition by the magazine for 20 years.

References

{{reflist Eye hospitals in the United States Keck School of Medicine of USC