Innovation is essential to accelerating advancements in health care—and at Phoenix Children’s, Leadership Circle funding is essential to driving innovation.

What is Leadership Circle?

Leadership Circle is a giving group whose members jointly invest in cutting-edge, high-impact projects led by Phoenix Children’s physicians and researchers. By becoming a member of Leadership Circle, you’re supporting pioneering projects that have the potential to make a profound impact on children’s health.

How does it work?

When you join Leadership Circle, your contribution is pooled with other members’ gifts to form a grant fund. Once a year, physicians and researchers from across Phoenix Children’s compete for funding to support their projects—and as a member of Leadership Circle, you get to vote on which projects to fund.

Since 2004, Leadership Circle has awarded nearly $5.6 million in grant funding to advance the work of Phoenix Children’s top innovators, including four grants totaling more than $523,000 in spring 2020.

Introducing the 2021 Finalists

Meet the Phoenix Children’s innovators who are transforming pediatric medicine. These physicians and researchers are competing for Leadership Circle grant funding to advance their groundbreaking work in fields ranging from neuroscience to cardiology. They will present their grant proposals at the annual luncheon on September 22 at Paradise Valley Country Club.

An investment that makes an impact

As a Leadership Circle member, you’re helping create brighter futures for children everywhere by investing in innovation at Phoenix Children’s. You also have access to exclusive benefits, including opportunities to participate in members-only events and experiences.

Saving lives by preventing codes

In January 2021, Phoenix Children’s launched WATCHER, an early-warning system that alerts a patient’s care team when the patient’s condition is at risk of deteriorating. Funded by a Leadership Circle grant, WATCHER detects subtle changes in clinical status by analyzing data from the patient’s electronic medical record. This allows care teams to identify at-risk patients and intervene sooner, preventing rapid decline and reducing the number of code events happening outside the ICU.