New University Park Pharmacy in the Works

The two University Park Campus pharmacies owned and operated by the USC Mann School will move later in 2023 to a combined, larger space in King Hall, close to the Engemann Student Health Center. The longstanding USC Pharmacy vacated the Student Union building last fall to make way for the university’s new Sustainability Hub. In the interim, services will continue through the Health Center Pharmacy across from Engemann, including new branded carts to deliver prescriptions to customers among USC faculty and staff.

The pharmacies’ move to King Hall will double the space and enable the provision of additional services, says Raffi Svadjian, executive director of USC Pharmacies.

He oversees the USC Mann School’s four community pharmacies—including the new South Los Angeles Pharmacy, which is also under construction—and a specialty pharmacy.

The new location will allow the USC Mann School to serve more patients and expand educational opportunities for students. Still in the design phase, the new University Park pharmacy will feature a larger waiting area—in the Student Union pharmacy, windowsills served as seating—as well as clinical space for pharmacists to meet with patients privately and discuss their health needs, Svadjian adds. USC is using the same design firm for the new University Park and South Los Angeles locations.

“Pharmacists play an increasingly important role in community health, and the new facility will help us demonstrate that for the USC community at large,” Dean Vassilios Papadopoulos says. “In California, pharmacists provide vaccinations, the COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid, nicotine replacement therapy, contraception and HIV prevention pills as well as distribute the opioid-reversal drug naloxone. We also help patients manage their medications safely.”

In addition, the Mann School plans to add health-product vending machines around campus. They will stock general and reproductive health products to provide access outside pharmacy hours as well as antibiotic ointment and emergency contraception.