Bioscience
Building Arizona as a global center for research and commercialization in the biosciences.
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Bioscience in Arizona
The Flinn Foundation supports the biosciences in Arizona through research and entrepreneurship grants as well as stewardship of Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap, guiding the growth and development of the state’s bioscience sector since 2002. The third iteration of the Roadmap was released in September 2025.
The biosciences improve our world by developing treatments for health afflictions with safer and more affordable medicines, creating diagnostics that gauge and prevent illness, and strengthening our food supply. In addition, the biosciences strengthen and diversify our economy by creating cutting-edge companies and high-paying jobs.
The Roadmap’s vision is for Arizona to be a nationally recognized, rising bioscience leader with a skilled talent base, world-class research, and dynamic industry growth, exemplifying collaboration, agility, and the courage to bet on discoveries that strengthen the economy and Arizonans’ health and quality of life.
Registration opens for 2026 Flinn Bio Capital Conference
The Flinn Foundation Bio Capital Conference will return in 2026 to the Creighton University Health Sciences Campus at Park Central in Phoenix. Join bioscience founders, investors, ecosystem partners, and service providers on March 5 for a full day of learning and networking.
Registration is open. The cost is $80. The event is presented by the Flinn Foundation, in collaboration with the Risk Capital Project Team of Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap Steering Committee. [Watch video and Register]
Flinn to lead new Arizona Community NeuroArts Coalition
Arizona has joined 10 regions across the U.S. as part of a new network exploring how the arts can be used to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities. Neuroarts is an emerging field that explores how arts and aesthetic experiences change the brain, body, and behavior and how this knowledge can be applied as health care.
The Community Neuroarts Coalitions Network is a key building block of the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative, which is helmed by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s International Arts + Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics and the Aspen Institute’s Health, Medicine & Society Program. [Read more]
Flinn board chair Dr. Eric Reiman receives lifetime achievement award
Dr. Eric Reiman, who has led Arizona’s transformation into a destination for Alzheimer’s and other age-related research, received the 2025 AZBio Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement at the annual AZBio Awards in October.
A world-renowned researcher and collaborator dedicated to patient care, Reiman is the CEO of Banner Alzheimer’s Institutes, director of the Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium, an Arizona State University and University of Arizona professor, a clinical director at Translational Genomics Research Institute, or TGen, and a leader of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative. Yet, as he says in this Q&A, Reiman remains intently focused on his work ahead. [Read more]
Flinn unveils new Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap
A new blueprint for Arizona’s emerging bioscience ecosystem lays out a plan for the state to capitalize on more than two decades of momentum and become a nationally recognized leader.
Bioscience focuses on the research, development, and commercialization of therapies and products to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease, improve health outcomes, enhance crops, and generate biological solutions for environmental and industrial challenges. It strengthens and diversifies our economy by creating cutting-edge companies and high-paying jobs.
The Roadmap was launched at events in Flagstaff, Tucson, and Phoenix with bioscience and community leaders whose vision and innovation are leading Arizona to new heights in the biosciences. [Read more]
Remembering John Murphy, Flinn’s first CEO and a bio visionary
John W. Murphy, the Flinn Foundation’s first employee who transformed philanthropy in Arizona as its president and CEO, has died. He was 88.
His visionary leadership included efforts to launch Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap in 2002 and help recruit the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) to Arizona, create the Critical Path Institute (C-Path) in Tucson, and establish the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix as part of what today is known as Phoenix Bioscience Core.
Murphy served on the boards of TGen and C-Path, was a member of Greater Phoenix Leadership, and served on city and state boards and commissions on medical education and research. He was a founding member and chair of Grantmakers in Health, helped to establish the Health Research Alliance, and chaired the Texas-based Conference of Southwest Foundations. [Read more]
Arizona biosciences set record highs in research funding, show increasing competitiveness
Arizona continues to outpace the nation in several key bioscience industry and innovation ecosystem metrics, including gains in jobs and academic R&D expenditures. Still, challenges remain in the areas of commercialization and venture capital deal activity.
Those are top-line findings in the latest data analysis commissioned by the Flinn Foundation to track the state’s bioscience industry. Arizona received $368 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health in 2024, a new annual record. Also, bioscience-related R&D spending at state universities exceeded $800 million for the first time, and the job growth rate outpaced the nation. [Read more]
News and Updates
Bioscience
Arizona Bioscience News: U of A med school in Yuma; Abbott–Exact Sciences deal; $700K for wearable tech; Alzheimer’s eye test; AI senior care HQ move; Strive expands in Mesa; AZ health tech growth
U of A and partner to open medical school branch in Yuma / Arizona Daily Star
The University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix will open a medical school branch in Yuma, partnering with Onvida Health, to help address a severe shortage of rural doctors. A three-year primary care accelerated pathway program will be offered starting in 2026.
Bioscience
Arizona Bioscience News:Arizona joins neuroarts network; GCOI winners announced; U of A gets $917K for skin cancer research; HealthyU sees 998% growth; U of A launches maternal diet study
State arts commission, philanthropies join national network of neuroarts advocates / Flinn Foundation
Arizona has joined 10 regions across the U.S. as part of the new Community Neuroarts Coalitions Network to explore how the arts can be used to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities.
Bioscience
State arts commission, philanthropies join national network of neuroarts advocates
Emerging field focuses on arts-based programming to enhance health and well-being Arizona has joined 10 regions across the U.S. as part of a new network exploring how the arts can be used to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities. The Community Neuroarts Coalitions Network is a key building block of the […]
Bioscience
Arizona Bioscience News: New Roadmap outlines Arizona’s bio strengths; ASU med school receives $100M+ gift; HonorHealth expands awake brain surgery; Innovation award finalists named
Bioscience Roadmap shows Arizona’s strengths include semiconductors, medical devices / KJZZ
Mary O’Reilly, Flinn Foundation vice president, bioscience research programs spoke with The Show to talk about the new Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap including its five goals and future impact on the state
For information about Bioscience, please contact:
bioscience@flinn.org or (602) 744-6831
