by Ken Alltucker - Jul. 21, 2012 03:37 PM The Republic | azcentral.com

With the arrival of 80 fresh-faced medical students for classes this week at University of Arizona's medical school in Phoenix, Arizona's grand experiment to create a medical and research hub in downtown Phoenix takes another step forward.

The 80 students represent the largest class since the UA College of Medicine established a downtown Phoenix campus five years ago. Those future doctors soon will share the newly opened health sciences education building with Northern Arizona University students who are studying to become physical therapists and physician assistants.

Beyond the new building, new programs and new students, the campus is scheduled to expand later this year with the groundbreakings of a 250,000-square-foot University of Arizona Cancer Center and a privately funded biotech lab next to the building anchored by the Translational Genomics Research Institute and International Genomics Consortium.

The downtown Phoenix campus also could receive renewed focus from the University of Arizona's new president, Ann Weaver Hart, and the Arizona Board of Regents' newly formed health committee.

Arizona leaders have high expectations that the Phoenix Biomedical Campus will sprout jobs, health-care professionals and medical discoveries that bolster Arizona's effort to grow its health-care and biotechnology sectors. And even though the biomedical campus has had challenges -- such as Arizona State University ending its partnership with UA's medical school and leadership changes -- university officials are optimistic about the biomedical campus' potential.

"It's important to show it is continuing forward progress," said Jay Heiler, who chairs the Arizona Board of Regents health committee. "It is critical not only for the universities. It is going to end up emerging as a very important piece of Arizona's economy."

Although the medical-school campus has classroom and lab space, it does not have clinical space where practitioners and health-care students can hone their craft and treat patients. The Arizona Cancer Center is slated to become the campus' first clinical presence with a scheduled groundbreaking later this year.

St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center and the University of Arizona are still negotiating lease terms for the $135 million cancer center even though the Phoenix wanted such details to be completed by the end of June. Both parties insist that they are on track to meet the most important goal established by Phoenix: starting construction by Dec. 22.

Plans call for St. Joseph's Hospital to operate the cancer center's clinic, and 70 percent of the building's area will be devoted to clinical space. But the exact amount of space that St. Joseph's will require is subject to ongoing talks between the two groups, said Dr. David Alberts, director of the Arizona Cancer Center.

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UA medical school in Phoenix a hub of growth