Arizona’s bioscience success depends on all of us getting involved

This year’s Bioscience Progress Report arrives at an exciting time, just a few months after the Flinn Foundation released the new Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap. The document outlined a bold vision to accelerate discovery, innovation and economic growth across the state through 2030.

Even in changing times, much work is being done toward that vision–as this report details.

— Major federal grants, including a $43.6 million award to the new Southwest Center for Advancing Clinical and Translational Innovation (SW CACTI), are strengthening our research engine.

— Arizona companies secured significant capital investments and national attention. Caris Life Sciences, which established its Arizona ties with a purchase of a TGen spinout, had a $494 million IPO.

— ASU’s new med school and a Yuma branch for the U of A College of Medicine-Phoenix will strengthen the talent pipeline.

At the same time, leaders across institutions have united to better tell Arizona’s bioscience story and amplify our shared successes. The delegation of leaders joining the city of Phoenix’s booth at the BIO International Convention–stationed alongside Taiwan’s booth–is just one example of the state’s rising profile.

Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap was first commissioned in 2002, and updated in 2014 and again in 2025. Over more than two decades, growth has been positive and impactful. Still, more can be done.

As you read this year’s Progress Report, we invite you to do so with a sense of possibility. Look for the places where you–or your organization–might contribute to Arizona’s next chapter in bioscience. You may discover a research initiative, startup, education program, or community partnership you hadn’t encountered before.

One way to get involved: show up. Attend convenings. Visit an innovation hub. Support emerging talent. Connect with groups advancing health innovation across the state.

Arizona’s bioscience community has been built through collaboration–and the acceleration envisioned in the new Roadmap will depend on more people finding their place in the growing ecosystem.