Goals, Strategies, and Actions

Goal 3: Bio-Talent

Make Arizona a bio-talent powerhouse where such talent is developed, educated, trained, and retained

Strategy 3A:

Increase the state’s supply of executive-level serial entrepreneurial talent within the bioscience industry

  • Actions
    3a-1
    Assess the feasibility of a broader Executive-in-Residence (EIR) program that would provide interim to permanent executive-level talent to new and growing bioscience firms
    3a-2
    Increase connections nationally with EIRs to augment the skills of EIRs in Arizona
    3a-3
    Offer idea and network exchanges for EIRs working in Arizona

Strategy 3B:

Establish Arizona as the national leader in deploying, assessing, and strengthening Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education at both the state and local levels in K-12, community colleges, and the universities; make improvements in science and math in K-12 through the STEM Network, bioscience academies, and statewide career and community-focused technical preparation programs to form lifelong career pathways in the biosciences

  • Actions
    3b-1
    Stay focused in STEM on core and next-generation standards with an emphasis on quick implementation through visits, mentoring, and internships
    3b-2
    Build internship requirements into STEM programs where they are not now required
    3b-3
    Investigate need for labs, equipment, and related materials to offer bioscience education programs across all levels, in addition to STEM teacher preparation in math and science
    3b-4
    Address the STEM challenges of minority communities through pre-collegiate programs
    4b-5
    Promote continued articulation and linkages among K-12, community colleges, and universities to offer lifelong-learning career opportunities
    3b-6
    Review and ensure career technical education and other job training programs are customized to maximize employer needs

Strategy 3C

Dramatically expand student entrepreneurship programs both at the K-12 and college levels, as well as internship opportunities to thousands of enrollees in private businesses and nonprofit organizations

  • Actions
    3c-1
    Use incubators, community colleges, and STEM education to link firms with the next generation of workers, and enable students to use and learn about tools and product development through expanded internship and apprenticeship programs
    3c-2
    Encourage the universities via ABOR to make student entrepreneurship a distinguishing feature, generating college graduates who are workforce-ready upon graduation and helping to retain them in Arizona
    3c-3
    Create a state internship incentive fund
    3c-4
    Create internships that enable students to solve health clinical problems and learn about regulatory processes

Strategy 3D:

Develop the talent base by attracting and retaining top graduate students, doctoral and post-doctoral candidates and trainees, and physician-scientists to research opportunities in Arizona, including clinical research

  • Actions
    3d-1
    Have ABOR examine graduate medical education need and demand, and recommend appropriate actions such as doctoral and postdoctoral research fellowships and physician-scientist recruitment packages to address Arizona deficiencies
    3d-2
    Assess additional ways the universities could offer entrepreneurial education and training programs to bioscience graduate and postdoctoral students
    3d-3
    Examine creation of fellowships for recent graduates and postdoctoral students to transition from academia to industry, such as North Carolina’s Industrial Fellowships, while also launching fellowships that would allow faculty to work in industry
    3d-4
    Consider two-tier, or joint, appointments of key faculty across research-performing institutions
    3d-5
    Broaden interdisciplinary clinical and research opportunities and academic programs for both undergraduates and graduates, and encourage professional science master’s programs
    3d-6
    Invest in and expand veterinary medical education to link animal, plant, and the human sciences

Strategy 3E:

Promote health care delivery reforms that will make Arizona a national leader and overcome the discovery-to-delivery disconnect

  • Actions
    3e-1
    Position Arizona to lead the efforts to create new models of health care delivery and rationalization over the next decade
    3e-2
    Make Arizona a place to try advanced medical procedures and clinical trials by offering a regulatory and legal climate that allows new applications to flourish
    3e-3
    Offer clinical performance incentives, such as prizes and awards, for Arizona health care innovations

Strategy 3F:

Develop programs to educate health care providers about delivering precision medicine to the patient

  • Actions
    3f-1
    Ensure a focus on physician training in molecular and precision medicine, the use of scientific and clinical data, and the pursuit of further research while in clinical practice
    3f-2
    Increase the size of the state’s production of general practitioners, the number of available graduate medical education slots, and the development of nationally recognized health care delivery models
    3f-3
    Address the infrastructure, program, regulatory, and clinical and research needs involved in the expansion of the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, the Mayo Medical School presence in Arizona, as well as osteopathic and other health care education and training facilities; these include Northern Arizona University allied health, Arizona State University nursing, and UA’s plans for veterinary medical education and related programs