Provost to be honored at research gala


University Kidney Research Organization will honor USC’s Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Elizabeth Garrett at its gala dinner on Friday, Sept. 12 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The gala will raise funds for the USC/UKRO Kidney Research Center at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.

Garrett will receive the award for Extraordinary Achievement in Academic Leadership. Garrett, USC’s second ranking officer, is responsible for hiring faculty and has been striving to improve the universitiy’s academic reputation. “Provost Elizabeth Garrett has a tireless commitment to building the University of Southern California and to elevating its position in the pantheon of top American universities,” UKRO President Kenneth Kleinberg told HSC News. “Not least through the school’s strategy of recruiting world-class talent for all academic and scientific disciplines … Garrett has strongly supported UKRO’s efforts to make kidney disease a true center of excellence at the Keck School of Medicine, and for this we and all who battle kidney disease are grateful beyond words.”

According to their website, the USC/UKRO Kidney Research Center hopes to eventually find a cure for kidney disease as well as improve upon existing treatments through basic and applied research. Kleinberg, who was diagnosed with a kidney ailment in 1999, founded the organization with his doctor, Vito M. Campese, professor of medicine and division chief of the Department of Nephrology at Keck. Kleinberg underwent kidney dialysis for six years before receiving a kidney transplant in 2007.

Garrett will be honored along  with Barry Hoeven, a cancer survivor and founder of Westport Properties, Inc. and US Storage Center, Inc. who is receiving the award for Outstanding Achievement in Business and Industry. Lynda Oschin, wife of the late L.A. businessman and philanthropist Samuel Oschin, will receive the Spirit of Life award. ABC7 Eyewitness news anchor Phillip Palmer will be master of ceremonies at the gala and Ambassador of the Great American Songbook Michael Feinstein will give a special performance.

Athletic Director Pat Haden was previously honored at the UKRO Benefit Dinner in 2012.