Approximately half of the Robert E. Tranquada papers consist of correspondence to and from Tranquada during his tenure as Dean of the USC School of Medicine from 1986 to 1991. The other half of the collection, added as an accrual in 2023, documents a broader scope of Dr. Tranquada's career at USC--not just as medical school dean, but beginning in 1959 when he joined USC's faculty. The papers document both Tranquada's administrative activities as Dean (letters, notes, documents, budgets, recommendations, grant requests and project proposals), and his expertise in health care policy, health services administration, community medicine and public health, and medical education. The collection also documents Tranquada's role in the creation of what is now the Watts Health Center, the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital; his service as medical director of Los Angeles General Medical Center, on the Los Angeles County Health Access Committee, and on the Christopher Commission; and his trips to South America, Asia, and Russia on behalf of the medical school in his role as strategic director for international programs.