Good morning and welcome to Wednesday, September 10th, 2025 Economic Developments and the Arts Subcommittee meeting.

I'd like to call the meeting to order.

And then I will turn to our city attorney to explain public comments, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Good morning, members of the subcommittee.

During citizen comment, members of the public may address the subcommittee for up to three minutes on issues of interest or concern to them.

The Arizona Open Meeting Law permits the subcommittee members to listen to the comments, but prohibits members from discussing or acting on matters presented.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much, David.

And then now I'd like to introduce our interpreter, Mario Barajas, who will say a few words.

Yes, Madam Chair, thank you.

This is Mario Barajas.

I'll be serving as a today's uh Spanish interpreter.

If uh I can be permitted to announce myself to our Spanish speakers that when a star de Mazmian Buenos días, you soy Mario Guarajas y Wayas está siguiendo como interprete a los de habla hispana.

Muchas gracias.

Thank you, madam chair.

Thank you so much, Mario.

Um my understanding is we have no call to public today.

Wonderful, we will move to item one, which is approval of the minutes.

Do I have a motion?

I move to approve.

And a second.

Um I I'm gonna recuse myself from the minutes only because I wasn't here.

Okay, during that time.

I I will second the motion.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Nope.

And um councilwoman Pastor is going to abstain.

Okay.

Great.

So the um, and there are no nays, so the motion passes.

Items two, three, and four are consent items.

Are there any questions or concerns from members?

No.

Hearing none, then we will move to item five, which is our fiscal year 2025-2026 bioscience healthcare strategic initiative.

And joining us for this report are Nathan Wright, the deputy community economic director, and Claudia Whitehead, the program manager.

Thank you for joining us this morning.

Madam Chair, I had a question.

Um is is items two, three, and four are they for action, consent action, or were they disinformation?

I apologize.

They are in consent.

I I skipped an important part.

Thank you for uh setting me cur straight, councilwoman.

No more.

I would take a motion to approve items two through four.

I move items two through four.

And do we have a second?

I'll second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

None opposed.

So motion passes unanimously.

Now we will go to item five, and we are joined by Nathan Wright and Claudia Whitehead.

Thank you for being with us this morning.

Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the subcommittee.

I'm here with Claudia Whitehead, who uh leads our strategic initiative, bioscience healthcare initiative.

And uh we're now in our eighth year, and we're seeing reaping some really amazing results, and she's gonna talk, uh, talk us through our initiative and some of the results from last year.

And so I'll turn the time over to her.

Uh thank you, Nathan, and good morning, madam chair and members of the subcommittee.

Uh, we are thrilled to be here and share this update on the city of Phoenix's bioscience healthcare strategic initiative.

Um, that under your leadership, focusing on these areas of uh to support the strength and growth of the industry here in Phoenix.

Uh that would include research and development, entrepreneurs, precision medicine, uh, health care delivery, education, and branding for the city.

And uh prior to the focus on the Phoenix Bioscience Healthcare Strategic Initiative, there really wasn't a global or domestic recognition of Phoenix's biocin bioscience industry.

But now Phoenix is ranked, and I'm really thrilled to share these rankings, especially with the graduate growth rate, employment growth, RD employment growth, and now we are recognized as a top 20 life science market in the US.

And Arizona is also ranked highly as second in the US for life science job growth and eighth in the US for clinical trial economic impact, with 80% of this happening in Phoenix.

And under your leadership, Phoenix has experienced unprecedented growth and investment since 2019.

More than 6.7 billion dollars in new capital investment in more than 8 million square feet of new primary facilities, creating a 14,000 new high quality jobs.

And I just want to point out that these are truly high quality jobs where the average salary for biosciences is 20,000 higher than the other private sectors.

So really really exciting to see those numbers.

And this year, the biointernational trade show took place in Boston with a theme that the world can't wait for the innovation produced by the life science industry.

There seemed to be a renewed commitment to the industry at this year's trade show.

It was very exciting, and the numbers bore that out as there was a return to pre-pandemic trade show attendees with almost 22,000 attendees that were represented from 73 countries, and really uh proud to have the city of Phoenix as one of 65 domestic and international pavilions, and actually the only city with a pavilion at the trade show.

One of the most uh common remarks at our Phoenix Pavilion by visitors is that there seems to be a great positive energy happening in Phoenix.

This is borne out by our numbers and activities in our pavilion.

So by the numbers, I'd like to share that we had more than 60 delegates, our largest delegation ever, uh, that joined us at the trade show.

Uh they held more than 400 meetings, identified more than 180 opportunities, and those opportunities are uh potential for collaboration, partnerships, and prospects.

And with our team, we are working with more than 30 hot Phoenix uh hot prospects for the city of Phoenix, with 60% of those being international based.

Uh we had uh three uh Phoenix companies that were chosen as startup stadium finalists, uh 16 live presentations and podcasts during the trade show, and we received 1.8 million um email, web, and on-site sponsorship impressions through the bio international trade show.

And uh again, the City of Phoenix uh was a sponsor of the startup stadium, showcasing the city of Phoenix's uh commitment to early stage life science companies.

We had prime placement uh with uh with the stage being right at the in the registration lobby between the two main entrances for people to go to the trade show floor.

Uh we were able to kick off the Tuesday session highlighting Phoenix's rising growth rate, rising growth, and the commitment to the industry.

And uh two Phoenix companies presented with binary genomics and their multiple cancer blood tests that captures detection of uh many cancers that don't have tests today, and MindEx Sciences, which is a personalized precision mental health company that has uh is able to provide uh personalized treatment because of their blood tests, so that people can understand how to best treat um for their their mental health.

And then plus, uh we were recognized throughout since January earlier this year as a sponsor on their website.

Uh the City of Phoenix's uh 60 member delegations was represented by uh these companies and uh really really um very engaged and a lot of great activity and uh just uh wanted to highlight a couple of examples of the activities that happened uh with our delegation during the trade show.

And uh one was uh we had uh podcast that was recorded uh by Gene Online, which is a um Taiwanese uh online uh and newsletter uh podcaster, and so they were highlighting uh they had come to Phoenix ahead of going to the trade show and attended venture cafe and met many people in the ecosystem.

So they really understood what was happening in Phoenix, and they promoted Phoenix through this podcast as uh on the bioinnovation from Fabs to labs, uh just understanding the the relationship with TSMC and Phoenix.

Um we also had a thought leaders that that led uh sessions at the at the conference, and uh one of those is uh the drug development session that was led by Dr.

Fonseika from Mayo Clinic here in Phoenix, and then Dr.

Potts, who's a serial uh entrepreneur and chair of the international uh cancer advocacy network.

We uh also want to thank McCarthy Building Companies for sponsoring our fast pitch reception, where we had more than 200 people attend the reception, and uh these people learned uh a couple of the the highlights of uh announcements that that were announced during the reception.

Uh one of those was Wexford Science and Technology.

They announced the pre-leasing of their next building that was is going to happen here on the on the city's uh Phoenix Bioscience Corps campus.

Uh there was also Cal Vary uh, and they announced the launch of their early stage canine cancer diagnostic that is actually launching this month.

Uh, then also uh the next frontier series panel with the BBC and Global Biotech leaders, alongside of uh Phoenix Community and Economic Development Director Christine Mackey taking um part in that conversation.

And uh it was really a surprising and really um uh really uh prideful moment, I think, for for all of us to see that she actually received the majority of the questions following the um the session because people were really curious about how the city of Phoenix has really risen so fast in in the bio industry, and so it's really uh truly um due to your leadership in this in this um in this initiative for for bioscience and healthcare.

And then you can kind of get a sense of the energy that was happening in the pavilion by the series of of images.

There was just like a lot of uh a lot of great engagement within our pavilion.

And uh this year, what one of the things that we did was we enhanced our targeted online visibility.

It exceeded our expectations and the industry norm for impressions and click-through rates.

In other words, when people saw the image, they clicked on it and because they wanted to learn more about what was happening in Phoenix.

And so this is an example of one of the online ads that that was um shown um on the web pre-trade show, and then we had uh post-trade show without the the pavilion number on it, of course.

And then we also teamed with the Axios um group for a story about the amazing growth um in Phoenix, and one of the um the between these two campaigns, we received more than one million impressions, and uh the Axio story is actually still online.

We received more than one million impressions with more than uh 3,500 people that click through to the website, and this is the homepage where they would go to um for that for that click through.

So it was really carrying that that um that consistent message and imaging um from that ad and into the the website.

So uh the next thing um, as you remember may remember, um, earlier this year you also supported us sharing a slice of our story via working with the BBC and their story works team.

And the film uh that was developed uh pays homage to the organization that is our origin story of so much that is bio and precision medicine in Phoenix, and that is the Translational Genomics Research Institute, TGen, that is now part of City of Hope.

And uh via this uh this presentation, we would like to share with you uh this short uh five-minute uh video that was debuted at this year's uh bio international trade show in Boston, and then I'll share a little bit more about that afterwards.

Brain health is complicated.

I truly believe we are only just starting to understand how complex the brain is.

The Phoenix geography really does inspire me a lot.

It's just really a lot of fun to be able to have these landmarks on the horizon that you can navigate to.

And for me, that's really important because in science, we have to be open to new ideas, new directions at any moment.

We never know when that next piece of data is going to lead us down a different path.

Beautiful day in paradise.

Absolutely glorious.

Yeah.

It's remarkable changes in this area, wouldn't you agree on the last 20 years?

I was thinking the same thing, you know, just realizing all the new buildings and all the changes that you and I have seen.

When I was wondering about the next phase of my career, my uncle sent me some clippings about this new institute that was emerging.

And when I reached out to Dr.

Trent, he really made promises that the work that we were going to do today in the laboratories was gonna make a difference tomorrow in human health.

I grew up in Phoenix, quite a different town, about a half a million people, and now it's the fifth largest city in the United States.

So it's changed considerably.

The city of Phoenix, the academic institutions, Arizona State and University of Arizona all played in developing and taking a chance on building out genomic medicine as a major benefit for individuals.

We're now doing in less than 48 hours returning information back to physicians to determine their optimal way to treat a patient with a given type of cancer.

Is there similar excitement in the brain?

Yeah, there's a lot of excitement in the brain.

I think that we still have a lot to learn about how the healthy brain works.

How do we take those principles that you've already applied successfully to managing cancer and take that and apply those to the brain?

Ten years ago, Dr.

Huddelman began the study of the brain using internet-based tools in a way that had not been a mainstay.

One of the first studies I did at TGen was a study of around 1,000 adults.

We tested their memory and we looked at their genetics to try to identify genetic factors that were associated with their memory performance.

At the time, it was quite a large study.

However, we knew that it needed to expand to become much more inclusive of all members of society.

And that really gave birth to the idea of Mindcrowd.

Hi.

Hi, we're here for the test team.

Great, welcome.

Mindcrowd is our internet-based study of the brain.

It's about a 10-minute experience.

We ask you a few questions about yourself and about your brain, and then you complete two different cognitive tests, and you get to see your results from those tests as well.

The MindCrowd Mobile Lab adds a very powerful aspect to Mindcraft, and that is the ability to travel into the Phoenix community and see our participants face to face.

Being able to interact with them, we can collect additional data that we can't collect electronically.

We not only learn about how their memory performs, we also collect blood samples, and we also check how their smell works, which we know changes with age.

This one makes me hungry.

Inside the mobile laboratory, we have a specialized MRI machine which lets us take pictures of your brain.

Being able to look at the size and the shape of the various brain regions can tell us a little bit about how your brain might change with age.

I've haven't seen many brains, but it looks pretty normal.

Our overall goal with MindCrowd is to reach a million participants, and we're almost there.

Reaching that many people is really important because it helps us have the ability to study various types of people in the community.

This type of citizen science approach that he brought forward here in the city of Phoenix and is now testing across hundreds of countries, has really brought data that can be uniquely used to understand aging and how we might better inform approaches that can help us think more clearly for more years.

One of the surprises that we see in the Mind Crowd data is really just how much variation there is in brain performance.

Going into this, we expected the 20-year-olds, for example, to be much better than the 70-year-olds.

However, we see quite the opposite.

I'm impressed every single day at the amount of cutting edge research that's happening in the city of Phoenix.

The work that we're doing makes a difference.

And the way that we make a difference is by helping impact the lives of everyone in our community.

I'm really excited about the future of memory research because I believe the things that we're learning today could make a difference tomorrow.

And as Dr.

Huntelman shared in the film, they are close to their 1 million participant goal.

And we would encourage everybody that is watching this or to go online and take this, because we're hoping that they can get to that 1 million goal by the end of 2025.

They are very close.

They have uh more than 800,000 participants today, and more than 100,000 have taken it since the debut in June at the bio international trade show.

So it's really making a difference, and we hope that everybody will go online and take that and get them to their million uh million goal, because this is really contributing to the neurodisease research, such as dementia and Alzheimer's and many other diseases.

So it's really making a big impact.

And so hoping that everybody can be a participant in that.

So uh, and then next, um, I wanted to also share another cornerstone of the Bioscience Healthcare Strategic Initiative is the City of Phoenix's membership with the Arizona Bioindustry Association, also known as AZ Bio.

And uh our membership provides year-round opportunities uh for engagement and to spotlight Phoenix's commitment to supporting the growth of the biosciences and our supportive ecosystem that you all have fostered.

And uh part of that is a full-page ad in the supplement that comes out that coincides with Arizona Bioscience Week.

And so this uh this is uh also a magazine that that is uh distributed alongside of this becoming part of the uh AZ Bio Directory.

So it's used year-round and in reference uh as companies are referring and finding out more about um AZ bio in the industry in Arizona.

So it's very um gives us a lot of visibility through through this.

Um and then uh just to uh share um to implement the strategy, we're looking at uh estimating the strategy that would be very similar to what we've done this past year, is we estimate the cost uh to participate at the international bio um the biointernational trade show in San Diego with a similar strategy as we did this year, alongside of the membership uh with AZ Bio.

And uh the total for this is 130,000.

And uh with that, I will turn it back over to Deputy Director uh Nathan Wright.

Yeah, thanks, Claudia, and back Madam Chair, members of the subcommittee.

Uh back in 2017 when we first walked the biointernational show.

I don't think we could have imagined that this initiative has turned into to this.

Under your leadership, we've been able to be consistent and persistent in our marketing and um in our business perception is everything, and we're able to now have people come up to us, approach us at this convention that realize Phoenix recognize Phoenix as a hub for bioscience and health care, and uh that's all because of this investment.

And with that, we are here to request the subcommittee uh recommend city council approval uh to implement this year's strategic initiative, including the Arizona Bioindustry Association and participation at the Bio International Convention in 2026 for a total of not to exceed 130,000.

Thank you.

Do you have questions or comments?

I'm just curious here.

Okay, go ahead.

Go ahead, Councilwoman Stark.

I'm sorry.

I don't have the raise your hand feature on this particular computer.

Um, I I just wanted to say um I'm had the opportunity while being in Prague to talk to several uh people in the bioscience industry here, and they're very excited about what we're doing in uh the city of Phoenix.

And uh I I must tell you, I think we've really gained that reputation, not just countrywide, but internationally.

And so I would certainly be supportive of this request, but uh thank you for allowing me to make some comments.

Thank you, Councilwoman Stark, for joining us today.

Um Councilwoman Pastor.

I was just curious about Mind Crowd.

Um, and I know it's looking at uh Alzheimer's and dementia, but uh I was thinking of young youth because I in the video it said that their brains are a little different from a 70-year-old, and I'm wondering and curious in the future if somebody would pick it up to look at the brain of those young kids if it's ADHD, ADD, neurodivergent brain and start identifying a neurodivergent brain through this study in the future.

It'd be written in the future, but I know he's looking at Alzheimer's because I think that that would be um somehow connected into the future of a of a student's brain, child's brain, young youth, adult, uh on the progression of what happens to their brain as they age, and if it could catch dementia or Alzheimer's much earlier.

So that was my curiosity.

You know the scientists, so you could say councilwoman Pastor was curious about this, but um it's it's it's it's supporting associations like this that help us further the research of what is needed in order to uh be proactive and combat some of the diseases that we're facing today.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Pastor.

I think that's an excellent point given um what we see in our young children, and and it would be helpful to have a study on on both ends of the spectrum.

Um I think am very thankful for the presentation this morning.

I strongly support this request as well.

As you pointed out, Claudia, Arizona now ranks second fastest in life science job growth and eighth in the nation for the economic impact of clinical trials.

Um I want to emphasize a statistic that should make every Phoenix resident proud.

About 80% of Arizona's clinical trials happen right here in our city.

Breakthrough treatments and cures are being tested and refined in Phoenix laboratories.

The success stems from our strategic investments and unique advantages, world-class medical centers, research universities, outstanding community colleges, and a spirit of innovation that defines Phoenix.

We can't take success for granted.

Cities worldwide have recognized the economic impact and potential of the biosciences industry.

Our continued participation in AZ Bio and Bio International keeps us ahead of the competition, ensuring Phoenix remains a destination of choice for biosciences companies.

This investment keeps Phoenix visibly globally visible globally and ensures we keep attracting companies and talent that create high-paying jobs for our residents.

With that, I'd entertain a motion for approval.

I move item number five.

I second.

I will second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye, aye.

Aye.

Hearing um everyone vote aye.

The matter passes unanimously.

Thank you so much for the presentation today.

Um with that again, I don't believe we have any call to public.

Madam Chair, yes, ma'am.

Um I think we need I this is for legal.

I had a conflict on number four, and that wasn't pulled.

And I just realized after I voted that I have a conflict with number four.

So I don't know if that's considered a reconsideration, and we vote on two and three, and then I separately and then do four separately.

I don't know what the process is.

Um Madam Chair, I was just suggest that you just pull it from consent, reconsider it, and then vote as you otherwise regularly would.

And then of course declare your conflict at that time.

Okay, so do we need a move to reconsider all three items?

Yes, madam chair.

Okay, would you like to make a motion?

I move to reconsider all three items.

I will second that.

All those in favor, please say aye.

I aye.

Hearing um all ayes.

Motion passes unanimously.

So now I would take a motion to approve items two and three.

I move that we approve items two and three.

Is there a second?

Second.

We have a second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Hearing any nays.

Hearing none, the motion passes unanimously.

I move to approve item four.

And noting that there's a second uh noting that there's a conflict for councilwoman Pastor, we have a second from Councilwoman Stark.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

No, nay.

No, no, no, me.

Councilwoman Pastor is not going to vote on this item.

Let me try that again.

Item four, which Councilwoman Pastor has a conflict.

So she will abstain from voting.

Um, all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any nays?

Hearing none, the motion passes two to zero to one.

Thank you.

Are there any future agenda items?

You know, I think it might be nice, and it may not have to be a presentation, but maybe just an update on all the activities that the sister cities program has been doing.

Um, you know, while we've been here in Prague, I did not realize um how we're working to um perhaps have a couple new sister cities, one in in uh Africa, which I think is fascinating, but also just to report on what comes out of it.

Of course, we know the biggest probably success story is TSMC, but there's so much else we're doing that really is making Phoenix internationally known.

So I and I know we don't have to do it anytime soon, but I think it's really a fascinating subject.

Thank you, Councilwoman Stark, for your request.

We actually have that scheduled to occur um in November of this year so that we can hear about all the great things that Phoenix Sister Cities is doing as well as all the wonderful impacts it's making, not only here in Phoenix, but across the world.

Any other requests?

All right.

Hearing none, then we are adjourned, and everybody gets the gift of time this morning.

Thank you all for being here.

Thank you.

Uh this plan, all of Phoenix supported everywhere in the city, supported this infrastructure plan, Arcadia, Biltmore, Desert Ray Ridge.