Author E. Hughes Career Achievement Award

College of Arts and Sciences

Barbara A. Driscoll, PhD ’78 (BA)
The Saban Research Institute / University of Southern California

Barbara Driscoll, PhD, joined the faculty at the University of Southern California in 2000 and is an associated professor in the Department of Surgery at its Keck School of Medicine. She also works in the Department of Pediatric Surgery at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), a nonprofit hospital for pediatric care, is one of the nation’s premier teaching hospitals through its affiliation with the Keck School of Medicine at USC. It’s also home to The Saban Research Institute, one of the largest and most productive pediatric research facilities in the United States.

As a principal investigator at the Saban Research Institute, Dr. Driscoll directs her own laboratory, focused on determining how cumulative lung injuries result in chronic lung disease and how prophylactic therapeutic approaches might delay the onset of disease.

Dr. Driscoll is a host mentor for the Bridges to Stem Program at Pasadena City College and, since its inception in 2006, has also served as a mentor for the CHLA’s Samuels Family Latino & African American High School Internship Program for high school students from underserved public schools.

Dr. Driscoll is a peer reviewer for several NIH study sections and a number of scientific journals. She is chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at CHLA and also lectures on the ethics of using animals in scientific research, as a part of the bioethics courses taught at both USC and CHLA.

Dr. Driscoll received her doctorate in molecular biology from the University of Arizona, and her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of San Diego.