Please join us for lunch!

For our meeting Monday, December 9th, 2024, we welcome 
Julius Fridriksson, USC Vice President for Research. 

USC Vice President for Research Julius Fridriksson has spent more than 20 years at USC building a career studying post-stroke neuroscience and managing a growing, thriving team of researchers. Under his direction, USC’s research division attracted a school-record $309 million in sponsored awards during the fiscal year that ended in June. Fridriksson’s research helped create USC’s Center for the Study of Aphasia Recovery, which partners with Johns Hopkins University and University of California-Irvine to examine communication disorders from brain damage often caused by strokes. As the SmartState Endowed Chair of Memory and Brain Function, Fridriksson directs USC’s SMARTBrain Center and co-directs the cutting-edge USC McCausland Center for Brain Imaging. He led USC in establishing a Brain Health Center that will offer the latest technologies, diagnostics and treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia when it opens in 2026 near Palmetto Health Richland. The center will be the hub for USC’s growing Brain Health Network, which is serving several underserved areas across the state with cognitive impairment and memory screenings, specialized diagnostics, and assistance for patients and caregivers in navigating the healthcare system and community resources.

Fridriksson also will oversee the research components of USC’s newly announced neurological hospital planned for the BullStreet District. The hospital will be the first-of-its-kind in the Southeast offering comprehensive neurological care, neurosurgery and neurological rehabilitation from injuries caused by trauma, stroke, cancer and dementia-related conditions. Last year, his office established five new research institutes at USC addressing cardiovascular health, infectious diseases, advanced applications for microchips, rural education and water quality. Fridriksson’s office is working with the S.C. Department of Commerce as well as a number of South Carolina colleges and businesses on a new federally-recognized technology hub devoted to energy generation, storage and distribution.