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Councilman Greg Stanton
Arcadia News Column
January 2007
Phoenix Leading the Way to Advancing Healthcare
When you think back to Arizona’s traditional five “Cs” - copper, cattle, cotton, citrus and climate – cutting-edge healthcare may not seem like a logical sixth “C.”
But in our state, and especially in Phoenix, we are making great advances in many aspects of healthcare, benefiting the local economy and leading to breakthroughs that will help people here and around the world.
As chair of the City Council Knowledge Workforce Subcommittee and a member of the Flinn Foundation Bioscience Roadmap Steering Committee, advancing the biosciences and healthcare has been a priority.
And in just a short time, we’ve seen some major accomplishments on our new downtown Biomedical Campus and beyond:
- University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix – Future doctors are already learning at the medical school, in the historic, renovated Phoenix Union High School buildings at Fifth and Van Buren streets. A new class of two dozen first-year med students will begin their studies next summer.
- IGC/TGen – Right next to the med school, the International Genomics Consortium and Translational Genomics Research Institute are making headlines with incredible research. One of TGen’s early projects, working on the debilitating disease ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), has uncovered genetic abnormalities in people with the condition. This could be a catalyst toward new treatments in the future.
- Arizona State University School of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation – ASU’s nursing school moved downtown in August. A new building to house the ASU Health Center and Academy for Continuing Education is scheduled to open in 2008. The nursing school has received a $1.3 million grant to work on the critical issues of nurse retention and improving overall patient care - work they hope will become a model for the whole country.
- University of Arizona College of Pharmacy – Like with nursing, Arizona has a shortage of pharmacists. UA’s College of Pharmacy on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus will help fix that problem, while leading to major drug development research. Future plans include the school offering PhDs in the fields of pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics.
The city also is supporting the UA College of Medicine’s work to locate a teaching hospital on or near the biomedical campus, further enhancing teaching and research relationships.
What’s amazing about the list above is that all of this has come together in just a few years. We have identified needs and attracted a broad array of top-notch institutions, transforming Phoenix into a leader in medical and biomedical education. This will lead to better treatments and patient care for all of us. And all of the programs complement each other, with research and learning synergies.
So maybe cutting-edge medical research should be the sixth “C,” letting future doctors, nurses, pharmacists and researchers learn in grade school textbooks that their opportunities are limitless.
Phoenix City Councilman Greg Stanton represents Arcadia and chairs the City Council Knowledge Workforce Subcommittee. Contact Councilman Stanton's office at 602-262-7491, e-mail greg.stanton@phoenix.gov or visit phoenix.gov/district6.
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