Arizona Bioscience News: CEI expanding to downtown Phoenix; UA College of Medicine-Tucson names new dean; First Place celebrates its first year

July 25, 2019

By Matt Ellsworth

Entrepreneurial incubator embarks on $1.9M biotech center in downtown Phoenix / Phoenix Business Journal

The Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation is expanding into downtown Phoenix with a $1.9 million professional development center­, CEI LabForce, scheduled to open next year in the $77 million Wexford Science and Technology building that Arizona State University will anchor on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus.


Renowned transplant surgeon new dean of UA College of Medicine-Tucson / Arizona Daily Star

Dr. Michael M.I. Abecassis, a renowned surgeon who performed the first successful liver transplant at Northwestern University, was named the new dean of the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson and will begin his duties in early November.


Tucson venture fund invests in new optical tech from LASIK inventor / Phoenix Business Journal

Tucson-based UA Venture Capital Fund, which is dedicated to investing in discoveries from University of Arizona faculty and students, has invested in a new optical technology that uses laser technology to determine a patient’s eyewear prescription within 12 seconds.


First Place, a community for people with disabilities, celebrates its 1st year / KJZZ

First Place, which offers supportive housing and a residential transition program operated by the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center for individuals with autism, has now been open for one year in midtown Phoenix.


UA summer medical fellowship teaches students importance of ignorance / Arizona Daily Star

Ignorance is key—that’s what 30 high school students and 20 undergraduates from across the state learned during their intensive, seven-week research fellowships with the University of Arizona College of Medicine.


Dignity Health and Phoenix Children’s celebrate expansion milestone / AZ Big Media

The final steel beam of the new Women’s and Children’s Pavilion on the Mercy Gilbert campus, a partnership between Dignity Health and Phoenix Children’s Hospital, has been set into place as construction continues on the facility set to open in 2021.


Upcoming Events

Aug. 12: SBIR Road Tour 2019, UA Tech Park Event Center, Tucson

Aug. 22: AZBio Summer Social 2019, GlobalMed, Scottsdale

Sept. 4-5: Rocky Mountain Life Science Investor and Partnering Conference, Vail, Colo.


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