The Commons

Hosted by Wexford Science & Technology

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Latest episode

Aug 2026

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EN-US

About the show

Conversations featuring researchers, innovators, artists, entrepreneurs, community builders, and thought leaders who are improving the human condition in their own backyard and across the globe.

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60 recent

August 3, 2026Episode 1421 min

Turning Innovation into Investment: A Conversation with Anne Mazet

At conferences like BIO, breakthrough science commands the spotlight. But behind every successful healthcare company is another story; one of founders, investors, mentors, and the difficult journey from promising research to investable business. In this episode of The Commons , host Thomas Osha welcomes Anne Mazet , Chief-of-Staff at Xcellerant Ventures, for a candid conversation about what separates great science from companies capable of attracting investment and creating lasting impact. Anne shares why venture investors often place as much emphasis on founders as they do on technology, why researchers should engage investors earlier than they think, and how coachability, strategic planning, and the willingness to build the right leadership team can dramatically improve a company's odds of success. The discussion also explores Phoenix's collaborative innovation ecosystem, the evolving venture capital landscape, and Xcellerant's innovative Jetstream Venture Fund, which is expanding access to venture investing through a more inclusive investment model. Along the way, Anne offers practical advice for university spinouts, startup founders, and anyone navigating the challenging path from laboratory discovery to commercialization. Whether you're building a startup, supporting technology transfer, or simply curious about how healthcare innovation reaches the marketplace, this episode provides valuable insights into the people, partnerships, and investment decisions that turn promising ideas into successful companies.

July 15, 2026Episode 1320 min

The Infrastructure Behind Bringing New Therapies to Market: A Conversation with Melissa Marlowe

The promise of cell and gene therapy is extraordinary. But between a scientific breakthrough and a patient receiving a potentially life-changing treatment lies one of the most complex, precise, and largely invisible networks in healthcare. Recorded live from the BIO International Convention, host Tom Osha sits down with Melissa Marlow, Vice President of Clinical Services and Biotherapies Lab at Vitalant, to explore the infrastructure behind advanced cell therapies and why that infrastructure is critical to expanding patient access. With roots stretching back to a Phoenix blood bank founded more than 80 years ago, Vitalant has built a national network capable of supporting the collection, handling, storage, and delivery of increasingly complex therapies. Melissa takes us behind the scenes of that network, where cells may need to be stored below -150 degrees Celsius, timing is measured in critical windows, and a single patient therapy can touch more than 100 people on its journey from collection to manufacturing and back to the patient. Unlike a traditional pharmaceutical product, many of today's cell therapies are autologous, created from a patient's own cells specifically for that patient. There is no replacement batch sitting on a shelf. Every product is truly one of a kind. Tom and Melissa also discuss the next frontier: moving therapies like CAR-T beyond treatments of last resort and expanding access to patients outside the nation's largest academic medical centers. It's a conversation about science, logistics, culture, and the remarkable human infrastructure required to turn breakthrough medicine into patient care.

July 2, 2026Episode 1219 min

Innovation Begins With Listening: Leith Martin Discuss NSF I-Corps Program and Commercialization for Innovators

Scientific discovery is only the beginning. The real challenge is transforming breakthrough research into products and companies that improve lives. Recorded live at BIO, this episode of The Commons features Leith Martin, Executive Director of the Pacific Desert Innovation Hub for NSF I-Corps, a program that is reshaping how researchers approach innovation and entrepreneurship across the Southwest. He is also Executive Director of the Troesh Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Lee Business School at UNLV, where he oversees entrepreneurship programs and the academic entrepreneurship curriculum. Originally developed by the National Science Foundation, I-Corps has helped thousands of scientists and engineers learn a deceptively simple lesson: before building a company, you have to deeply understand the problem you're trying to solve. Through customer discovery, market validation, and entrepreneurial training, researchers learn to test assumptions, engage potential users, and refine their ideas long before launching a startup. In our conversation, Leith explains why some of the world's most promising technologies never reach the marketplace, how I-Corps is helping bridge the gap between discovery and commercialization, and why entrepreneurial thinking has become an essential skill for today's research community. We also discuss the role programs like the Pacific Desert Innovation Hub play in strengthening regional innovation ecosystems and accelerating the translation of research into economic and societal impact. Whether you're a scientist, entrepreneur, investor, or simply interested in how great ideas become real-world solutions, this conversation offers valuable lessons about the future of innovation.

June 30, 2026Episode 1118 min

The Phoenix Advantage-Collaboration for Growth and Innovation: A Conversation with Ryan Touhill

Phoenix is one of the most closely watched innovation markets in the country, but growth at this scale does not happen by accident. In this episode of The Commons , recorded live as part of our special series spotlighting Arizona’s bioscience and innovation economy, Tom Osha sits down with Ryan Touhill, Director of Economic Development for the City of Phoenix. Together, they explore how Phoenix is translating long-term vision into measurable momentum across life sciences, advanced industries, entrepreneurship, and place-based economic development. Ryan shares how the city is thinking beyond traditional business attraction, focusing instead on building the conditions that allow innovation ecosystems to thrive over time. The conversation examines the role of public leadership in creating environments where research institutions, startups, established industry, and developers can align around shared growth. Ryan also reflects on Phoenix’s emergence as a national bioscience hub, the importance of strategic partnerships, and how the city is investing in the infrastructure, talent, and community assets required to sustain innovation. From district-scale development to economic competitiveness, this episode offers a candid look at how cities can move from ambition to execution, and why Phoenix’s next chapter may be even more consequential than its last.

June 29, 2026Episode 1015 min

The Hidden Ecosystem of Women's Health: A Conversation with Dr. Melissa Herbst-Kralovetz

Our special BIO series begins with a conversation that challenges how we think about health, disease, and discovery. In this episode of The Commons , we sit down with Melissa Herbst-Kralovetz, professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix and director of the Translational Women’s Health Research Program, whose work is helping uncover the complex relationship between the microbiome, immunity, and women’s health outcomes. Her research focuses on how microbial communities and host biology interact in the female reproductive tract — with implications for infection, cancer prevention, diagnostics, and earlier intervention. Together, we explore one of the most fascinating frontiers in bioscience: how understanding the body’s hidden ecosystems may transform the future of medicine. We discuss the evolution of translational science, why women’s health represents one of the most important opportunities in modern research, and what it takes to move discoveries from the laboratory into meaningful impact for patients. Recorded live during BIO, this conversation also reflects a broader story unfolding across Arizona — where researchers, institutions, and innovators are building an ecosystem designed to accelerate discovery and improve health outcomes at scale.

June 29, 2026Episode 92 min

The Commons @ BIO International Conference

This special series of The Commons comes to you live from BIO, where the world’s leading biotechnology companies, researchers, investors, and ecosystem builders gather to shape what’s next in health and life sciences. Across a series of conversations, we explore a bigger question: What does it take to build a world-class bioscience ecosystem? From breakthrough therapeutics and emerging startups to commercialization strategies, talent pipelines, and statewide collaboration, this series highlights the people and ideas helping define Arizona’s next chapter in innovation. Featuring leaders from research institutions, foundations, startups, and industry, these discussions examine how discoveries move from lab to market, how regions compete on a global stage, and why the future of bioscience depends as much on connection and place as it does on scientific excellence. Throughout the series, we spotlight Arizona’s growing momentum, from translational research and entrepreneurship to the partnerships and infrastructure needed to accelerate impact and improve health outcomes. Whether you are an entrepreneur, researcher, policymaker, investor, or simply curious about where the future of health is heading, these conversations offer a front-row seat to the ideas and relationships shaping tomorrow.

June 12, 2026Episode 833 min

How Arizona Built a Bioscience Economy at State Scale: A Conversation with Mary O'Reilly

When people talk about Arizona's emergence as a bioscience leader, the conversation often focuses on Phoenix. But the state's success story is much larger than any single city. In this episode of The Commons , host Thomas Osha welcomes Mary O'Reilly of the Flinn Foundation for a discussion about the Arizona Bioscience Roadmap and the unique role it has played in advancing innovation and economic development across the entire state. For more than two decades, the Roadmap has provided a shared framework for strengthening Arizona's bioscience sector through strategic investments, collaborative partnerships, talent development, research growth, and commercialization. Unlike many economic development initiatives that focus on a single metropolitan area, Arizona's approach has sought to connect assets and opportunities across the state, aligning universities, healthcare systems, research institutions, entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and policymakers around a common vision. In this conversation, O'Reilly explores how the Roadmap was developed, why it has endured through changing economic and political environments, and how it continues to serve as a catalyst for statewide collaboration. She discusses the measurable impact the strategy has had on research capacity, workforce development, startup formation, healthcare innovation, and Arizona's growing reputation as a center for bioscience and technology-driven growth. The discussion also examines a broader question facing regions throughout the world: how can communities sustain a long-term innovation strategy that extends beyond individual projects, leaders, or election cycles? As The Commons prepares to broadcast from the Arizona Pavilion at the BIO International Convention in San Diego, this episode offers an important perspective on the value of statewide thinking and the power of patient, coordinated leadership.

June 12, 2026Episode 732 min

Innovating by Design: Matt Ellsworth on Arizona's Bioscience Roadmap

What does it take to build a world-class bioscience ecosystem? While many regions aspire to become centers of innovation, few have sustained a coordinated strategy long enough to produce transformative results. Arizona is one of the exceptions. In this episode of The Commons , host Thomas Osha is joined by Matt Ellsworth, Chief Operating Officer of the Flinn Foundation, for a conversation about the Arizona Bioscience Roadmap—one of the nation's most enduring and influential regional innovation strategies. Developed more than two decades ago, the Roadmap was created to help Arizona diversify its economy and strengthen its position in the life sciences. Since then, it has served as a guiding framework for collaboration among universities, healthcare systems, research institutions, entrepreneurs, industry leaders, philanthropies, and government partners across the state. The results have been significant. Arizona has emerged as a growing center for bioscience research, commercialization, healthcare innovation, and talent development, with the Phoenix Bioscience Core becoming one of the most visible manifestations of that progress. In this discussion, Ellsworth reflects on the origins of the Roadmap, the leadership and partnerships that have sustained it through multiple economic cycles, and the lessons learned from more than 20 years of ecosystem building. He also explores how the Roadmap continues to evolve in response to new opportunities in precision medicine, biotechnology, workforce development, and innovation-driven economic growth.

April 30, 2026Episode 632 min

How Breakthroughs Get Built: A Conversation with Steve Potts

In this episode of The Commons , host Thomas Osha sits down with Steve Potts, CEO of Breakthru Medicine, to explore what it actually takes to turn scientific insight into life-changing therapies. With multiple FDA-approved drugs in his track record and a newly closed $60 million Series A, one of the largest early-stage financings in Phoenix’s bioscience ecosystem, Potts brings a rare perspective on building in a field defined by uncertainty, long timelines, and high stakes. The conversation moves beyond the headlines to unpack the mechanics of innovation. Potts shares how experience, judgment, and data come together to identify which ideas have real potential, and which don’t. He explains Breakthru Medicine’s patient-first, tumor-agnostic approach, and the emerging science behind molecular glues, small molecules, and next-generation antibody-drug conjugates. Osha and Potts also step back to examine the broader system: why so many therapies fail, how startups and large pharma play complementary roles, and why new geographies like Phoenix are becoming credible centers of biotech innovation. At its core, this episode is about decision-making under uncertainty—how leaders place bets when the outcomes matter deeply and the answers aren’t clear. For anyone interested in the future of medicine, innovation, or building at the edge of what’s possible, this conversation offers a clear-eyed look at how breakthroughs actually get built.

January 11, 2026Episode 549 min

A Platform For Discovery and Impact: A Conversation with John Swartley

What does it take to move ideas out of the laboratory and into the world, at meaningful scale, with purpose, and without losing the soul of academic discovery? In this episode of The Commons , host Thomas Osha sits down with John Swarthy, Chief Innovation Officer of the University of Pennsylvania, to explore how Penn has spent the last two decades intentionally reshaping its approach to innovation, commercialization, and partnership. Penn is widely recognized for breakthrough discoveries—from CAR-T cell therapy to the mRNA platform that enabled COVID-19 vaccines—but those successes did not happen overnight. As John explains, they are the result of sustained leadership, cultural change, and a deliberate shift away from a purely transactional model of “tech transfer” toward a deeply integrated, relationship-driven innovation enterprise. The conversation explores why basic research remains essential even in an era of tightening federal funding and growing industry pressure for near-term results, and why translational research alone is never enough to deliver truly game-changing breakthroughs. John and Tom discuss how universities must balance curiosity-driven discovery with commercialization pathways, and why partnerships with industry, startups, and regional institutions are now central to that mission. Listeners will also hear how Penn has leveraged reinvestment of licensing revenues under the Bayh-Dole framework to strengthen the entire research enterprise, support interdisciplinary institutes, and help catalyze an innovation district in West Philadelphia where academia, healthcare, startups, and global industry converge. From mRNA platforms and interdisciplinary engineering-medicine collaborations to the role of talent, capital, and place, this episode offers a candid look at how one leading research university is navigating the future of innovation and what that future may demand from institutions everywhere. If you’re interested in the evolving role of universities, the economics of innovation, or how ecosystems turn discovery into impact, this conversation offers rare insight from someone who has helped build the system from the inside.