Keck Medicine of USC honored at Los Angeles healthcare awards

The health system takes home three top honors and three finalist awards

Keck Medicine of USC brought home three top honors at the Los Angeles Business Journal Health Care 2025 Leadership Awards on Aug. 27, 2025.

Marty Sargeant, MBA, CEO of Keck Medical Center of USC, was named Hospital CEO of the Year; and Annette Sy, DNP, RN, NE-BC, chief nursing executive for the medical center, was named Hospital Executive of the Year.

Keck Medicine, along with UCLA Health and the organ transplant recovery organization OneLegacy, was awarded Outstanding Collaboration of the Year for their joint effort performing the world’s first human bladder transplant in May 2025. Inderbir Gill, MD, founding executive director of USC Urology, performed the successful surgery with Nima Nassiri, MD, a urologic transplant surgeon with UCLA Health. OneLegacy recovered the organs for the procedure.

 Additionally, three Keck Medicine leaders and programs were award finalists: 

• Smitha Ravipudi, MPH, CEO of USC Care Medical Group and CEO of  Ambulatory Care Services in the category of Health Care executive of the Year;
• The Care for the Caregiver program in the category of Outstanding Community Outreach for its efforts to support staff affected by the Los Angeles fires; and
• USC Urology in the category of Top Research Organization.

The Los Angeles Business Journal recognized winners in six individual categories and nine organizational ones.

“The Los Angeles Business Journal awards recognize the top healthcare individuals and organizations in Los Angeles; and having six honorees and finalists out of 15 categories in an incredible accomplishment,” said Rod Hanners, the CEO of Keck Medicine. “I am proud and appreciative of all of those who were recognized for their contributions to Keck Medicine and to the advancement of medicine.”

In their acceptance speeches, both Sargeant and Sy thanked their care provider teams for helping them be successful leaders.

Gill took the stage with Nassiri. The two discussed how the historic medical breakthrough of a bladder transplant, a milestone achieved through years of collaboration and research at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, has the potential to transform the future of bladder care.

The Los Angeles Business Journal’s annual Health Care Leadership Awards recognize the accomplishments of individuals and organizations that make great strides in providing better quality health care in Los Angeles. The awards ceremony was held at the downtown Los Angeles Biltmore.

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