ASU Plans Integrative Medical School in Downtown Phoenix
The multi-story building, termed a “learning health ecosystem," will include the ASU School of Medicine and the Advanced Medical Engineering and School of Public Health Technology.
Image courtesy Arizona State University
Arizona State University plans an Arizona Health building at a location to be determined on its booming downtown Phoenix campus. A project cost has not been announced, and a groundbreaking date has not been set.
The multi-story building, termed a “learning health ecosystem” by the university, will include the ASU School of Medicine and the Advanced Medical Engineering and School of Public Health Technology. Altogether, the building will integrate clinical medicine, biomedical science and engineering. ASU has not named an architect and general contractor.
“We are focusing our full energy and innovation on improving Arizona’s health outcomes,” ASU President Michael Crow said in a statement announcing the plans. “We must generate knowledge at a scale that will impact society. Our university charter drives us to assume fundamental responsibility for the overall health of the communities we serve. This is an extension of that core belief.”
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a video statement, “At a time when the Phoenix bioscience industry is booming, and when the need for highly trained medical professionals is at an all-time high, it’s a big deal that ASU has chosen downtown Phoenix for their newest venture.”
A 2006 municipal bond election established ASU's downtown Phoenix campus, which has generated myriad construction projects and now touts more than 12,000 students.
“This is part of the most aggressive and comprehensive health care plan in Arizona’s history,” said Fred DuVal, chair elect of the Arizona Board of Regents. “It will include major growth and new investments by all three of our state universities, significant partnerships with the private sector and the support of our government partners.”
These clinical partnerships include the alliance between ASU and the Mayo Clinic, which supports research and academic programs. “It is our shared vision that Arizona should play a leading role in advancing health care through the development of a collaborative biotech ecosystem,” said Richard Gray, CEO of Mayo Clinic, in a statement.
“The ASU School of Medicine will produce a new kind of doctor who is technologically enhanced by every tool imaginable and able to work across entire communities, not just with individual patients,” Crow said. “It also means Phoenix will leap to the leading edge of physician development, physician-oriented research and public health-oriented research.”