InBusiness Greater Phoenix recently looked at the Phoenix bioscience and health care ecosystem, and how the sector is transforming our economy. You can read an excerpt of the piece below.

“We have top-ranked healthcare organizations that provide top-notch care, are innovative and known for research excellence,” says Claudia Whitehead, bioscience healthcare program manager in the City of Phoenix’s Economic Development Department. The long list includes Mayo Clinic, Banner Health and Phoenix Children’s Hospital. On the academic stage, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, The University of Arizona, Grand Canyon University, Creighton University and Tufts are powerhouses with their own innovators and support systems in Phoenix. And, of course, leading research institution TGen (Translational Genomics Research Institute) makes its home in Phoenix. 

And if that’s not enough to draw more companies into our bioscience and healthcare industry, there’s an extra edge Phoenix has: “We’re attractive to companies outside because we have a business plan to work together,” Whitehead notes, referring to Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap. “Arizona is the only state that has a blueprint like this,” she says, pointing to the Phoenix Biomedical Campus — which was renamed last month Phoenix Bioscience Core as a truer reflection of its essence — as one of its great accomplishments.

Christine Mackay, community and economic development director at City of Phoenix, says, “When you look at what Phoenix did in creating the PBC here in Downtown Phoenix — although bioscience and healthcare were happening all around us, it really was the first time someone had driven a stake in the ground and said, ‘We’re going to claim this as ours. And this is going to be a strategic move forward in attracting companies.’ And the acquisition and the creation of the 30 acres and the very strategic focus to go after TGen, to go after Dr. Jeffrey Trent … I mean, talk about a time when it took an entire village. This wasn’t the city doing it by itself; this was the state and the county and private sector and foundations and healthcare and the city and others really working to recruit him back to Phoenix. And Phoenix built the TGen building and Dr. Trent is in there and he’s been there since the building opened in 2006. That really was that launch pad for Phoenix to claim this sector as its own.”