USC recognizes 5 University and Distinguished Professors

Five faculty members, acknowledged as authorities in their various domains, have been appointed University Professors and Distinguished Professors, representing some of the pinnacle honors in faculty recognition at USC. This elite group of scholars is appointed yearly based on their outstanding academic leadership as recognized by their faculty peers.

“Annually, we are honored to acknowledge exceptional faculty who contribute significantly to USC, the wider community, and global society,” remarked Andrew T. Guzman, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “This year’s recipients have made meaningful impacts on research and wider society beyond our campus boundaries. It’s a privilege to celebrate the remarkable achievements of these faculty members.”

The title of University Professor is awarded judiciously, considering interdisciplinary interests and notable achievements across distinct fields. The title of Distinguished Professor is given to those whose accomplishments have fostered notable acclaim for USC.

University Professors

ADAM LEVENTHAL

Adam Leventhal is a clinical psychologist, public health researcher, educator, policy advisor, and university administrator specializing in addiction. He is the founding director of the USC Institute for Addiction Science, recognized as the first universitywide comprehensive academic entity devoted to analyzing, mitigating, and preventing addiction crises.

Leventhal leads a research initiative that has acquired $60 million in funding, focusing on youth tobacco, cannabis, and opioid use; health disparities in addiction; evidence to inform public policies concerning the regulation of tobacco and other addictive consumer products; and preventative measures against cancer and cardiovascular diseases. He has authored or co-authored more than 400 peer-reviewed scientific studies, with articles appearing in prestigious journals like JAMA, the New England Journal of Medicine, and various other widely respected publications. Research conducted by Leventhal and his collaborators has shaped a multitude of federal and international policies aimed at safeguarding youth from the hazards of tobacco and nicotine. His work has been reported by major outlets like The Associated Press, NBC Nightly News, The New York Times, among others. Beyond his contributions to science and academic leadership, Leventhal actively serves as a mentor and educator for early-career professionals, ranging from high school students to faculty members. He is also an elected fellow of the American Academy
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of Health Behavior and the American Psychological Association and honored with accolades for advancements in science and mentorship, including the American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal Award for Influence in Psychology.

Leventhal actively engages in bridging addiction research to federal and global policy initiatives, having held positions in the U.S. Surgeon General Report Series, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, World Health Organization, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

ARTHUR STONE

Arthur Stone serves as a professor in psychology, economics, and public policy, and is the head of the Center for Self-Report Science at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. With a background as a clinical psychologist, Stone’s initial research focused on the assessment of life events and coping mechanisms to comprehend their impact on vulnerability to physical illnesses. This focus led to investigations into how environmental factors influence biological mechanisms associated with health, particularly the endocrine and immune systems.

His secondary significant area of research involves the advancement of patient-reported outcomes, where he aimed to decipher the processes behind self-reporting. He has created patient-reported outcomes surrounding stress, coping, emotions, well-being, pain, and fatigue utilizing diverse data collection methodologies. He was part of the team responsible for developing an extensive series of patient-reported outcomes for clinical trials known as PROMIS instruments. Additionally, he has researched hedonic well-being using comprehensive surveys from the Gallup Organization, exploring the metrics of subjective well-being and its relevance to public policy in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the National Academy of Sciences.

Stone has held the position of editor-in-chief for two prominent health psychology journals, attained fellow status in various organizations, received numerous academic honors, chaired a study section for the National Institutes of Health, and has been consistently funded since 1978 by the NIH, National Science Foundation, and other national entities.

Distinguished Professors

DAVID ARMSTRONG

David Armstrong is a tenured professor of surgery and neurological surgery at USC. He possesses a Master of Science degree in tissue repair and wound healing from the University of Wales College of Medicine, along with a doctoral degree from the University of Manchester College of Medicine, where he was designated as a Visiting Professor of Medicine. He co-founded and serves as co-director of the Southwestern Academic Limb Salvage Alliance.

Armstrong has authored over 710 peer-reviewed research papers in a multitude of esteemed medical journals, in addition to more than 120 books or book sections. He is the founding co-editor of the Clinical Care of the Diabetic Foot by the American Diabetes Association, currently in its fourth edition. Furthermore, he heads USC’s NSF-funded Center to Stream Healthcare in Place, strategically positioning him at the crossroads of consumer electronics, wearables, and medical tools to enhance days spent away from hospitals while remaining active.

Chosen as one of the inaugural six International Wound Care Ambassadors, Armstrong has received a multitude of awards and degrees from universities and global medical entities, including the first Georgetown Distinguished Award for Diabetic Limb Salvage. In 2008, he became the 25th and youngest individual ever inducted into the Podiatric Medicine Hall of Fame. He was the first surgeon appointed as University Distinguished Outreach Professor at the University of Arizona, as well as the first podiatric surgeon to be elected as president of faculty at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Moreover, he was the first podiatric surgeon to join the Society of Vascular Surgery and the first U.S. podiatric surgeon to be recognized as a fellow by the Royal College of Surgeons in Glasgow.

HELEN BERMAN

Helen Berman is a research professor specializing in quantitative and computational biology. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Barnard College in 1964 and pursued crystallography training at the University of Pittsburgh, where she completed her doctorate in 1967. After her postdoctoral studies, she joined the Institute for Cancer Research at Fox Chase Cancer Center, ascending from research associate to senior member. In 1989, she became part of Rutgers University’s faculty, currently holding the position of Board of Governors Distinguished Professor Emerita of Chemistry and Chemical Biology alongside her research professorship at USC. Her research primarily focuses on nucleic acids, protein-nucleic acid interactions, and collagen, with over 320 scholarly publications to her credit.

Berman co-founded the Protein Data Bank archive, which launched in 1971, and has devoted herself to its ongoing development and upkeep as a communal resource. Additionally, she is exploring innovative methods to utilize film and digital arts to convey the significance of structural biology in medicine and health to a wider audience. She served as the executive producer of Target Zero, a documentary on HIV prevention enhanced by high-quality molecular animations depicting how anti-HIV medications function. In collaboration with the USC Bridge Institute and the USC School of Cinematic Arts, she is currently developing the Inner Space: World in a Cell VR experience, offering insights into the interior of a pancreatic beta cell.

Berman is recognized as a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Biophysical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Crystallographic Association, and the International Society for Computational Biology. She has received several accolades, including the Benjamin Franklin Award for Open Access in the Life Sciences, the DeLano Award for Computational Biosciences, the ACA Martin Buerger and David Rognlie awards, the Distinguished Service Award from the Biophysical Society, and the Carl Brändén Award from the Protein Society.

MAGGIE NELSON

Maggie Nelson is a professor of English and the author of numerous highly regarded books of poetry and prose, many of which have achieved cult classic status and resist easy classification. Her nonfiction works encompass the essay compilation Like Love: Essays and Conversations, the national bestseller On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint, the National Book Critics Circle Award winner and New York Times bestseller The Argonauts, The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year), Bluets (recognized by Bookforum as one of the top 10 best books of the past 20 years), The Red Parts, and Women, the New York School, and Other True Abstractions. Her poetry titles include Something Bright, Then Holes and Jane: A Murder (finalist, the PEN/Martha Albrand Art of the Memoir).

Apart from receiving a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship in 2016, she has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Nonfiction, a National Endowment for the Arts grant in Poetry, an Innovative Literature Fellowship from Creative Capital, and an Arts Writers Fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation. She holds a PhD in English literature from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and has taught literature, writing, art, criticism, and theory at numerous institutions including the New School, Pratt Institute, Wesleyan University, CalArts, and USC.