On Jun. 3, 2015, Business leader and University of Southern California (USC) Trustee Rick J. Caruso and his wife, Tina, donated $25 million to endow and name the USC Tina and Rick Caruso Department of Otolaryngology.

The Caruso family’s daughter was impacted by hearing loss at birth, and the family experienced first-hand the challenges of early-onset hearing loss.

The Carusos’ exceptionally generous gift also names and endows the department’s affiliated treatment center for young children with severe hearing loss. This funding for the USC Caruso Family Center for Childhood Communication enabled the center to expand its leadership as the region’s top resource for testing and therapies that enable children to hear.