BENEFITTING PHYSICIANS, PATIENTS, AND THE ECONOMY B Y B R I A N P O W E L L | F L I N N F O U N D AT I O N
A
rizona’s Bioscience Roadmap is a long-term strategic plan with a goal of increasing access for Arizonans to health innovations and improving outcomes while diversifying and strengthening the state’s economy. The plan has been beneficial to physicians and their patients throughout the state in many ways, including improved access to clinical trials – whether to try to extend the life of a pancreatic-cancer patient or to help find a cure to Alzheimer’s disease – enhanced research at the state’s universities and private institutions, and an increase in startup bioscience firms working to commercialize their discoveries. The Roadmap was commissioned in 2002 by the Phoenix-based Flinn Foundation, a nonprofit philanthropic organization, and updated in 2014 to guide the state through 2025. It is the longest-running, statewide, proactive bioscience plan in the nation. The Flinn Foundation, established in 1965 by leading cardiologist Robert S. Flinn and his wife Irene, directs the majority of its grantmaking to advancing the biosciences in Arizona and provides staffing support to the Roadmap and its Steering Committee.
Roadmap priorities The Roadmap is much more than a written document. Beyond its well-researched underpinnings, it is a dynamic, evolving action plan that is helping to galvanize bioscience interests across the state to follow a common vision. Its thesis of pursuing disciplines where Arizona has exceptional strengths has helped to establish Arizona’s status as one of the nation’s fastest-growing bioscience regions. Roadmap advocates are guided by a set of goals, strategies, and recommended action steps to advance the
bioscience sector and improve health outcomes through collaboration, and private and public investments. The biennial release of data collected by the research and strategy firm TEConomy Partners tracks the state’s progress. Of particular relevance to physicians, the Roadmap calls for increases in Arizona’s production of general practitioners and the number of graduate medical education slots, and the development of nationally-recognized healthcare delivery models. Other key priorities include improving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, increased advocacy and education of policymakers, obtaining new research and infrastructure funding, and attracting risk capital. For instance, the Roadmap calls for the development of the healthcare and biomedical talent base by attracting and retaining top graduate students, doctoral and post-doctoral candidates and trainees, and physician-scientists who would develop Arizona-based research programs, including clinical research. One potential action step is for the Arizona Board of Regents to recommend establishment of doctoral and postdoctoral research fellowships and physician-scientist recruitment packages. Another key Roadmap strategy is to develop programs to educate health-care providers about how to offer patients access to precision-medicine treatments. Arizona, with strong university research groups and anchor independent institutions such as the Phoenix-based Translational Genomics Research Institute and the Tucson-based Critical Path Institute, is on the leading edge of precision medicine. Education programs could include a focus on physician training in molecular and precision medicine and the use of scientific and clinical data, and the pursuit of further March 2017 | arizonaphysician.com
43