TUCSON, Ariz.– Three startups will advance their ventures through a new pilot program developed by the University of Arizona Center for Innovation (UACI) and Arizona FORGE to create support services for a seamless startup continuum. 

The first cohort participating in the pilot program includes startups Metfora, Obánj and Dive. The three companies will advance to the UACI, having just completed the Arizona FORGE Advanced Entrepreneur Program (AEP), an eight-week program that provides early-stage entrepreneurs with accelerated education about general startup venture concepts and the tools needed to initiate a startup. UACI works with multi-stage startups, immerses them with support centered around a 27-point roadmap and is the next sequential step where people, programming and places help entrepreneurs launch their startup, grow and scale. 

Metfora is a diagnostics startup that helps to diagnose chronic diseases with artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted metabolic analysis. The Metfora team is developing a straightforward blood test based on multiplexed panels of metabolites that can differentially diagnose chronic diseases with AI precision less invasively, less costly and at the onset of symptoms. Company founders Ruslan Rafikov, Olga Rafikova and Alex Borovinskiy are University of Arizona (UArizona) faculty members. 

Obánj is a sustainability platform where the world’s most stylish and conscientious women borrow Gucci, Dior and other luxury jewelry for as low as $29/month through a shared/circular economy. Company founder Melissa Kiguwa is a UArizona alumna. 

Dive is a software platform that reshapes the future of storing and sharing knowledge online. Dive enables students, professionals, researchers and developers to curate, structure and share knowledge effortlessly. Company founders Daniel Frost (Eller College of Management) and Sahand Sabet (PhD in Mechanical Engineering) are UArizona students. 

“Our team is exploring new ideas and developing pilot programs like this that lead to high-impact change within the Southern Arizona innovation ecosystem,” said Elizabeth “Betsy” Cantwell, senior vice president for research and innovation. “We are redefining UArizona’s innovation landscape and engaging with entrepreneurs and the community to bridge resources and accelerate the most promising inventions.” 

The pilot program is a natural evolution in the growing innovation ecosystem at UArizona. The entrepreneurial culture on campus has seen rapid momentum, and the network of resources available is expanding to meet the growing demand. UArizona serves both the community inside the university as well as the larger Tucson startup com

PIMA COUNTY – The Pima County Health Department today announced that it will expand the 1B priority COVID-19 vaccination group to people over 70 years old. They can start today registering for appointments beginning on Feb. 8 on the Department’s vaccine registration page, www.pima.gov/covid19vaccineregistration.

People 70 and older, educators, and people employed in protective services will be able to register for vaccination appointments at Tucson Medical Center, 5301 E. Grant Road, Banner UA Cancer Center, 3838 N. Campbell Ave., Banner UMC-South at the Kino Sports Complex, 2500 E. Ajo Way, and the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave. A fifth vaccination center at the University of Arizona, 1200 E. University Ave., is also under consideration. The UA POD is currently restricted to educators.

“We have made a lot of progress over the past six weeks in the 1A and 1B priority groups, vaccinating more than 130,000 people,” said Dr. Theresa Cullen, the Health Department Director. “The pace of appointments for educators and protective services has slowed as we think we’re nearing saturation of the people in those groups who want to be vaccinated, so we’re opening appointments to 70 and older.”

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey in January moved up people 65 and older into the 1B priority group. Pima County, however, still restricted vaccinations to people 75 and older because they statistically have worse outcomes if they contract COVID-19, and because there are so many people in Pima County over age 65 (more than 212,000) allowing them all to register for appointments at once would have crashed the registration system. According to the 2019 Census estimate for Pima County, there are more than 54,400 people between the ages of 70 and 74 in Pima County.

“Were only opening vaccination to 70-plus because we still have a lot of 75+ people to vaccinate and we don’t want to overwhelm our registration system or create more demand than we have vaccine supply,” Cullen said.

Vaccinations for people who are 65 to 69 years old may be able to start getting vaccinated by the end of February, depending on vaccine availability.

“Vaccine supply is the ultimate limiting factor in how many people we can get vaccinated and how quickly. We are wary of getting too far ahead of the available vaccine with our appointments,” said Dr. Francisco Garcia, the County’s Chief Medical Officer and a Deputy County Administrator. “It’s hard to estimate how fast we can move to vaccinating 65 to 69 folks because  the state’s system for vaccine distribution is opaque, as evidenced by today’s announcement that the state has reduced Pima County vaccine allotment by more than 12,000 doses next week, going from 29,000 this week to only 17,800 next week.”

For more information about COVID-19 vaccinations, go to www.pima.gov/covid19vaccine, or call 520-222-0119.

PHOENIX, ARIZ. – Heidi’s Village, a first of its kind animal shelter, in partnership with Arizona Animal Rescue Mission (AARM) is hosting a free community clinic to provide microchips and tags to 300 Valley pet owners on Saturday, Feb. 6 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Microchipping and tagging companion animal helps to ensure that they are returned should they get lost. Heidi’s Village and AARM are committed to helping owned dogs and cats remain with their families and avoid being one of the 130,000 animals lost or surrendered to local shelters each year in Maricopa County alone.

Heidi’s Village is a state-of-the-art shelter and rescue focused primarily on providing critical services to the existing animal welfare community in order to increase our collective impact.

This $22 million facility opened in April 2020 and can house over 250 dogs and 200 cats, provides both routine and critical medical intervention with a full-service veterinary clinic and has a neonate kitten nursery, among many other services on the 5-acre, 48,000-square-foot campus.

The clinic will be open to the first 300 privately owned animals in line on Feb. 6 at the Heidi’s Village Campus located at 600 N. 40th St., in Phoenix. The clinic will run from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and is only available to private owners. No rescue groups please.

Appointments are not necessary as requests will be handled on a first-come, first- served basis. All participants will be required to wear a mask and all animals are required to be on a leash or in a carrier.

If you would like more information about this free clinic or Heidi’s Village, please contact Lisa Evans Johnson, Chief Development Officer, Heidi’s Village, 602-241-4625 or by email lejohnson@heidisvillage.org.