USC launches first community pharmacy in South Los Angeles with ribbon-cutting ceremony

When the Rite Aid store at the intersection of Crenshaw Boulevard and West Slauson Avenue closed its doors in March 2024, the loss of the pharmacy was a blow to the surrounding South Los Angeles community. The store’s exit exacerbated the neighborhood’s shortage of pharmacies within a reasonable walking and driving distance, marking the area as a “pharmacy desert.”

On Thursday morning, in an adjacent storefront, USC and community leaders celebrated the launch of the USC Pharmacy and Wellness Center, aimed at closing gaps in health care. The pharmacy, slated to open to the public in April, will be operated by the USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in tandem with a clinic run by T.H.E. (To Help Everyone) Health and Wellness Centers, creating a coordinated hub for community-based care.

“This is more than a storefront,” Vassilios Papadopoulos, dean of USC Mann, said in his opening remarks at the ribbon-cutting event. “It is a statement. It is a statement that health access matters, that community partnership matters, that pharmacy is central for the future of health care.”

Papadopoulos discussed the vital role pharmacies play in primary care, providing essential medications for chronic and acute conditions. In the planning stage for years, the new USC pharmacy arrives at a time when pharmacy closures are accelerating nationwide. Research at USC Mann has shown that pharmacy deserts disproportionately affect urban Black and Latino communities like the one surrounding the new pharmacy.

USC Provost Andrew T. Guzman spoke at the event about how the new pharmacy and wellness center will strengthen local health care infrastructure. “This center is going to expand access to essential medications and health services, reduce barriers to care for residents who don’t have reliable transportation, support chronic disease management, provide vaccinations and preventative services and serve as a training site for the next generation of pharmacists,” Guzman said.

A commitment to the neighborhood: USC community pharmacy

The intersection of Crenshaw Boulevard and West Slauson Avenue is an important hub of the Crenshaw district and a stop along the Los Angeles Metro K Line. In his remarks at the ribbon cutting, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, president of the Los Angeles City Council, noted that during the past 15 years, the shopping center where the new pharmacy is located has undergone a major transformation. “Big corporations abandoned the community,” Harris-Dawson said. In addition to Rite Aid, a Ralphs grocery store in the center also shuttered.

The USC pharmacy is part of a revitalization. Last year, a Planet Fitness gym opened in the former Rite Aid, and Vallarta Supermarkets took over the former Ralphs space. Harris-Dawson pointed out that with exercise, fresh groceries and pharmacy now represented at the center, it will support community health.

“This plaza has come back, and the USC Pharmacy and Wellness Center is absolutely the crown jewel for all of us,” Harris-Dawson said.

Harris-Dawson joined Papadopoulos, Guzman, USC Trustee Amy Ross and Derrick Butler, the chief medical officer of T.H.E. Health and Wellness Centers, in cutting the ceremonial cardinal-red ribbon.

Community leader Skipp Townsend, who attended the event, noted that USC’s investment brings value to the community and paves the way for further positive changes.

“What USC is doing here and coming out in the community, it gives society a different look at our community,” said Townsend, the CEO and founder of 2nd Call, a violence-reduction and reentry organization serving greater Los Angeles. “People say, ‘Oh, if USC is there, it must be worthy of something. It must have value.’”

The new pharmacy will also create job opportunities for community members. “We are committed to hiring locally whenever possible,” Papadopoulos said in his speech.

Community impact is a key piece of USC’s academic mission. The USC Pharmacy and Wellness Center is only the latest of many health care-related outreach programs the university has undertaken, including the Street Medicine program and mobile dental clinic.

The USC Pharmacy and Wellness Center is “about building relationships, improving outcomes and serving communities,” Guzman told the audience at the event. “In that sense, this center advances USC’s academic mission, and most importantly, it reflects our commitment to the community of Los Angeles and this particular community.”

USC community pharmacy: Removing barriers to pharmacy access

The USC pharmacy’s location at a community crossroads was selected based in part on USC research identifying pharmacy deserts.

Dima Qato, associate professor of clinical pharmacy at USC Mann, has documented the growing prevalence of pharmacy shortage areas across Los Angeles and nationwide, where residents face diminished access to prescription medications and pharmacist-led health services. She spearheaded the development of an interactive, nationwide mapping tool showing the location of every pharmacy in the United States and which neighborhoods fall into the category of pharmacy deserts.

“Our pharmacy shortage area mapping tool that captures information on closures helped identify a location with unmet need in South L.A.,” Qato said of the new pharmacy in an interview prior to the event. “It provided a rationale for the location that prioritizes local needs before profit, which is something that is a challenge in the current pharmacy market.”

Qato has written extensively on barriers to pharmacy access and how they affect equity in health care. In underserved neighborhoods, transportation barriers may keep people from picking up vital medications when pharmacies are located too far away. Residents may lack cars, bus connections may be difficult to navigate, and those with illness or injury may have difficulty walking long distances. In low-income neighborhoods with low vehicle ownership, a pharmacy desert is defined by a shortage of pharmacies within a half-mile radius.

The new pharmacy will help alleviate this shortage in the South L.A. area. It is expected to serve as a model for addressing pharmacy shortages in urban areas nationwide.

“This pharmacy represents USC’s ongoing commitment to the health and well-being of the South Los Angeles community,” USC President Beong-Soo Kim said before the event. “No one should have to travel long distances or face barriers to access life-saving medications. By opening a pharmacy in South L.A., we are building on longstanding community relationships and taking an important step to address a critical community health need.”

Addressing health needs holistically

In addition to the pharmacy, the space also includes a small retail area selling health and personal care items, health consultation rooms and a community room for health education programming and outreach events. The T.H.E. wellness clinic is expected to open this summer.

“Under one roof, patients will be able to fill prescriptions, receive immunizations and other preventive services, consult with pharmacists and connect directly to primary care,” said Raffi Svadjian, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy and executive director of community pharmacies at USC Mann. “This reflects our commitment to building a trusted, community-centered model that addresses health needs holistically.”

In pairing pharmacy services with resources for disease prevention, the new facility will offer an innovative integration of pharmacy and primary care. “A lot of health outcomes are influenced by how well care coordination is supplied,” Butler said. “For me, the ideal situation is having that pharmacy piece more linked to the medical piece.”

Community leader Thryeris Mason, who attended the event, said she’s looking forward to attending the pharmacy’s community programming. “I just love the idea of a community room — a place where community can gather and have conversations about their health concerns,” Mason said. “Having a space available to have those conversations is really, really important.”

The holistic focus of the USC Pharmacy and Wellness Center dovetails with the mission of USC Mann.

“We are always looking for ways to extend our mission beyond the classroom, beyond the labs,” Papadopoulos said. “At this pharmacy, we are really committed to offering everything that we can, including exposing people to education and prevention.”