One of Downtown’s most unheralded successes in recent years is the growth and expansion of the Phoenix Biomedical Campus located northeast of Fifth Street and Van Buren.
The campus is currently comprised of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGEN), Arizona Biomedical Collaborative (ABC), and three restored historic buildings on the north side of Van Buren that make up the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix. All three have enjoyed success with TGEN having an estimated $77.4 million annual impact on the Arizona economy and the U of A Medical School increasing enrollment from 24 students to 120.
Last month, the State Joint Committee on Capital Review gave the go-ahead to begin construction on the Health Sciences Education building to be located north of the northwest corner of Seventh Street and Van Buren (shown left). The approval came after months of waiting and a public support campaign of citizens who understood the importance of the building to the future of bioscience development in Downtown Phoenix.
For an understanding of the public support for the Health Sciences Education Building and its future economic impact, I invite you to read two letters to the editor published last month by the Arizona Republic: Medical wonders at the heart of Arizona’s future and Health-sciences building to mean more doctors, jobs.
Construction on the $187 million, 268,000-square foot building is expected to begin shortly.
In recent months, we have seen a flurry of activity and news coming from TGEN. Partnerships have been formed with entities around the world including a recently announced local effort to partner with John C. Lincoln’s Breast Health Research Center to provide tumor samples for research. The stellar work at TGEN is not only reflected in partnerships with some of the biggest names in the bioscience industry but also in funding. The non-profit biomedical research institute has attracted more than $18 million in grants from the National Institute of Health in the first few months of 2010. Recent awards have included large contributions from Safeway, the Life Foundation  and Stand Up To Cancer. For more information on TGEN please visit their Web site: TGEN.
Bioscience development in Downtown Phoenix was considered a longshot  just a few years ago, but the investment is already paying off. Keep an eye on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus – good things are in store.