Priority owner: Ayman Fanous, MD

Priority vision: Pursue distinction in prioritized areas of greatest clinical and scientific impact to our community.

Goals and Initiatives

DD1. Make strategic investments in high-impact research programs, focusing on advanced technologies, AI and large-scale multi-omic datasets.

  • DD1a. Establish competitive pilot/seed funding opportunities for researchers.
  • DD1b. Emphasize strength in neuroscience, cardiopulmonary, immunological therapy and health across lifespan.

DD2. Leverage access to clinical affiliates' large diverse patient populations to accelerate discovery and improve quality of care.

  • DD2a. Establish tech-enabled, streamlined access to clinical affiliate data. 
  • DD2b. Build upon and foster clinical learner successes in identifying research opportunities that result in notable presentations and publications.

DD3. Create economic opportunities by translating discoveries into new and improved prevention and treatment modalities.

  • DD3a. Coordinate with the Phoenix Biomedical Core (PBC) to target industry partners to further intellectual property (IP) development and advanced care opportunities.
Key Accomplishments
  • Inaugural Dean’s Distinguished Seminar launches with Dr. Eric Olson as the first speaker - April 2026.
  • Department of Psychiatry and researchers from other institutions recently published a study in Nature exploring biological insights into schizophrenia from diverse populations - March 2026.
  • Aaron McGee, PhD, and fellow researchers explore potential therapeutic interventions for the visual disorder in a recent cover story in Experimental Neurology - March 2026.
  • Peipei Ping, PhD, joins the College as the new chair for the Department of Biomedical Informatics and chief AI and Data Science officer - March 2026.
  • Pilot program, between the College and Banner Health, launched to reduce approval times for industry-sponsored clinical trials - January 2026. 
  • Ekokobe Fonkem, MD, joins the College as the vice chair of research in the Department of Neurology - January 2026.
  • Iannis Adamopoulos, PhD, joins the College as the vice chair of research in the Department of Internal Medicine - January 2026.
  • International team led by U of A and HonorHealth Research Institute develop ASTEROIDS technology - January 2026.
  • Phoenix Children's Research Institute secures three prestigious NIH grants - December 2025.
  • Funding obtained to explore the Self-Administrated Multiplex Universal Radiation Indication (SAMURAI) kit - October 2025.
  • Janko Nikolich, MD, PhD, joins the College as the associate dean of research - September 2025.