'Incredible milestone': ASU, city of Phoenix announce location for ASU Health headquarters

Citing the need for a “new way” of doing things, Arizona State University President Michael Crow said that the headquarters for ASU Health will be the hub of the university’s efforts to improve health outcomes for Valley residents.

Crow made his remarks Monday in downtown Phoenix at the future site of the headquarters, expected to open in time for the fall 2028 semester. The headquarters will be in downtown Phoenix, bounded by Fillmore and Pierce streets to the north and south, and Fourth and Fifth streets to the east and west.

“We’re not just building a medical school,” Crow said. “We’re not just building a public health school. We’re not just doing a few new things under some label. We’re trying to take the assets of the most innovative university that the United States has had and apply it to the new class of problems. And right here on this gravel pile will be the headquarters of all of that.”

Sherine Gabriel, the executive vice president of ASU Health, told a crowd that included ASU officials, faculty and staff; Phoenix mayor Kate Gallego; members of the Arizona Board of Regents; and other health leaders that the headquarters represents an “incredible milestone.”

“ASU Health is taking a transformative approach to medical education,” she said.

Announced in May 2023 at a meeting of the Arizona Board of Regents, ASU Health includes new and existing schools with a focus to advance health care, research and discovery, and treatment. ASU Health is aligned with the Arizona Board of Regents’ AZ Healthy Tomorrow initiative, a plan to grow Arizona’s health care workforce.

“Today’s announcement is about impacting lives and making a real difference in our communities,” ABOR Chair Cecilia Mata said. “This state-of-the-art facility will integrate advanced analytical tools, data science and innovative care practices to improve health outcomes for our loved ones. ASU Health graduates will be the future doctors, nurses, technologists and scientists who keep our communities healthy and ensure quality care for every Arizonan.”

The headquarters location was selected to be in the heart of the Phoenix Bioscience Core innovation zone, a cluster of industry leaders spearheading research on the world’s most important health science discoveries.

“The future of health care changes today with ASU Health on the city’s 30-acre Phoenix Bioscience Core, delivering next-generation research, better patient outcomes, strong talent and a promise for life-altering medical breakthroughs,” Gallego said. 

“ASU Health is integral to solving for workforce shortages and improving the quality of health for our residents. Within 10 years, results will create nearly 200,000 jobs and add $19 billion to the state GDP. I applaud ASU President Dr. Crow for selecting the Phoenix Bioscience Core to build the most advanced medical technology school in America.”

The headquarters will house the School of Medicine and Advanced Medical Engineering, a new kind of medical school that will produce physicians who blend medicine, engineering, technology and humanities. Graduates will leverage new tools such as artificial intelligence and data science to connect with more patients, seek innovative practices and improve health outcomes.

It will also house the School of Technology for Public Health, which aims to create a new and rapidly evolving space for the integration of digital technology, data-driven decision-making and a significant focus on local impact within public health.

National industry leaders helped design the School of Technology for Public Health. Their effort was co-chaired by Dr. Susan Blumenthal, a retired rear admiral and former U.S. assistant surgeon general, and Sir Malcolm Grant, chancellor of the University of York and founding chairman of England’s National Health Service.

Gabriel said both schools will help prepare students for the next 20 to 50 years in health care.

“It’s (understanding) that the traditional medical schools and the traditional public health schools may not best serve us in the future,” she said. “We need to bring along all of those other disciplines, particularly the tech disciplines.”

Noting that many medical schools across the country are “siloed off” from the rest of the university, Gabriel said ASU Health headquarters will not be an ivory tower.

Three examples:

First, in advancing ASU’s multidisciplinary approach, ASU Health will work with colleges across the university to advance health standards. The university’s existing College of Health Solutions and Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, along with the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, will be primary contributors. In addition, students from the W. P. Carey School of Business could work on solutions to supply chain challenges experienced by hospitals. Students at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication could work with ASU Health on how to better communicate health solutions to the public.

“Our No. 1 goal, of course, is to improve health outcomes, and we really think the way to do it is to bring all of these disciplines to bear,” Gabriel said.

Second, clinical partners like HonorHealth, which also is contributing financially to ASU Health, will be co-located in the headquarters. HonorHealth is the primary clinical affiliate for the new School of Medicine and Advanced Medical Engineering.

HonorHealth CEO Todd LaPorte said the partnership can help improve health outcomes in a variety of ways.

“I think they want to make a mark in the health care space with innovation, and there are places where that can converge with our expertise,” he said. “Can you imagine creating a simulation experience for students where they could perform a surgery virtually and be able to learn from that? That will require expertise coming from both of our camps. Or, with medical devices and engineering, it could be the next hip replacement technology. Or knee replacement.

“All of these things are percolating inside the ASU infrastructure, and they’re percolating inside ours. We can see where we can work with each other, and they can leverage our health care facilities to pilot and test out some of these ideas.”

And third, Gabriel said the headquarters will have a “community-facing” component. At most university medical schools, she said, “you can’t walk in there and learn anything. It’s for medical students. But we’re going to change that.”

Although details have to be worked out, Gabriel said that as part of ASU’s Health literacy effort, members of the public could walk into the headquarters and, with the help of technology, get answers about issues like mammograms or immunization.

“And if you want to talk to somebody, we should be able to do that, too,” Gabriel said.

Rick Naimark, ASU’s associate vice president for program development planning, said the headquarters also will include administrative offices, classrooms, study spaces, a clinical-skills laboratory, an anatomy laboratory, exam and debrief rooms, and a simulation center that will simulate outpatient and inpatient operating rooms as well as emergency rooms.

“The goal is to get a real feel for what it’s like to be working in those places,” Naimark said. “Think of an astronaut training in a training spaceship. That’s what we want to happen here, for it to be as real as possible.”

Naimark said every inch of the headquarters, which is expected to be about 200,000 square feet, will contribute to a singular focus for ASU Health.

“We hope,” he said, “that this will be the center of the universe with regard to dialogue relating to health, particularly of Arizonans.”