On Mar. 21, 1996, the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital opened their expanded facilities that included 25 new laboratories, tripled the size of the outpatient clinics and more than quintupled its pathology lab space. The Cancer Center and Hospital expansion campaign that began in 1987 was named the Dr. Norman Topping Tower, in honor of USC’s seventh president and a great champion of the Cancer Center.

In 1973, the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center was designated a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the first eight comprehensive cancer centers.