USC announced endowment for Schaeffer Center


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The university announced a $25 million donation from Professor Leonard D. Schaeffer to endow the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics on Tuesday.

Schaeffer, who is a Judge Robert Maclay Widney chair, and his wife Pamela founded the center in 2009. The USC Schaeffer Center, which falls underneath the USC School of Pharmacy and the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, is led by director Dana Goldman, renowned health economist and Norman Topping Chair in Medicine and Public Policy.

Schaeffer said he hopes his gift will allow the center to create more groundbreaking research. In the three years since its dedication, the USC Schaeffer Center has amassed $45 million in research funding from outside sources. Past research from the center has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Politico and National Public Radio.

“Our nation faces grave health and fiscal challenges,” Schaeffer said in a press release. “I support this Center because its rigorous, independent and interdisciplinary research provides the foundation for designing effective policies to address these issues in both the public and private sectors.”

Goldman also said the endowment will help the center further its mission.

“Leonard Schaeffer has demonstrated a life-long commitment to relevant, evidence-based health policy research,” he said. “With this additional gift, he ensures that our mission of providing independent, innovative solutions to today’s health policy challenges will endure beyond the current era of health care reform.”

This donation represents another step toward fulfilling the $6 million fundraising goal set by the Campaign for the University of Southern California.