Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap Steering Committee names new leaders

January 27, 2016

By Matt Ellsworth

Ron Shoopman
Ron Shoopman

Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap Steering Committee, a group of more than 100 Arizona leaders working to advance the biosciences around the state, has undergone its first leadership change in more than a decade, with two long-serving members assuming new responsibilities.

Ron Shoopman is the new chair and Mark Slater is the new vice chair of the Steering Committee, a nearly 15-year-old body created to guide Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap. The Roadmap, a long-term strategic plan commissioned by the Flinn Foundation in 2002, was updated in 2014 with the goal of Arizona becoming globally competitive and a national leader in select areas of the biosciences by 2025.

Shoopman, president and CEO of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council in Tucson, previously served as vice chair of the Steering Committee. He replaces Marty Shultz, a longtime Arizona policy leader who had led the committee since 2005. Slater, vice president for research at HonorHealth in Scottsdale, has spent nearly a decade as a member of the committee.

“Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap Steering Committee serves an important function for our state,” Shoopman said. “These are leaders who are promoting cutting-edge research to improve the health of all Arizonans, and working to build a business climate that attracts venture capital and supports new and expanding firms with high-paying jobs.”

In his role as SALC president, Shoopman works alongside nearly 130 CEOs to promote the issues of education, infrastructure, health care, and governance, as well as science and technology. Shoopman also serves as a member of the Arizona Board of Regents and is a retired brigadier general who commanded the International F-16 Training Wing for the United States Air Force.  Shoopman joined the Steering Committee in 2005 and was named vice chair in 2007.  In 2008, he led the formation of the Bioscience Leadership Council of Southern Arizona.

mark Slater_headshot
Mark Slater

Slater has served as vice president for research at HonorHealth and chief executive for the HonorHealth Research Institute since 2008, when the organization was known as Scottsdale Healthcare. The institute accelerates precision-medicine therapies for cancer and cardiovascular disease through early-phase clinical research. Slater has previously served on the medical-school faculty at the University of California, San Diego, held leadership positions at Sharp HealthCare and the Veterans Administration Medical Center in San Diego, and developed medical-research data and consulting businesses.

“Both Ron and Mark are longtime, active Steering Committee members and strong advocates of the biosciences,” said Jack B. Jewett, president & CEO of the Flinn Foundation. “They also understand the important role of the committee in developing collaborations that help to define Arizona’s niche in this critical industry that brings health benefits and high-paying jobs to our state.”

The Steering Committee, which receives staffing support from the Flinn Foundation, meets quarterly to stay abreast of major research, business, and policy developments that impact the biosciences in Arizona. Committee members represent the public and private sectors in science, health care, business, academia, economic development, government, and policy.

The Flinn Foundation is scheduled to release new data about the growth of Arizona’s bioscience sector in March.