The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California was founded in 1885. Located on the university's 30.8-acre Health Sciences campus in northeast Los Angeles, it is adjacent to the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, one of the largest teaching hospitals in the United States. Faculty of the school include national leaders in each of its 25 clinical and basic science departments. Library facilities on the campus provide an excellent source of reference materials.

Clinical interaction is provided by the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, the Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Hospital and Research Institute, USC University Hospital, Doheny Eye Institute, Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, and by a network of 11 additional USC-affiliated hospitals throughout Southern California.

Well-equipped and extensive research facilities are available in each of the basic science and clinical departments. A number of core facilities is provided by the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The school has established an interdisciplinary Institute for Genetic Medicine, designed to house new programs in molecular biology and genetics, and gene therapy.