Dr. Andrea Hall of MRI is joined by Dr. Richard Hellman of the Metropolitan Medical Society of Greater Kansas City, John Bluford of Truman Medical Center, Dr. Bill Duncan of the Life Sciences Institute, and Dr. Eli Michaelis of Higuchi BioSciences Center. .
THE INEVITABLE STATE LINE
In each of the previous four Industry Outlooks - building, hospitality, real estate, and government - participants spoke of the state line the way they might speak of chronic backache: something you learn to live with, that might even build character, but finally something that you just kind of wish would go away.
Not so with life sciences. Here, there is a curious advantage to the area's bifurcation. It works something like this. The "first step" in seeking funds for research projects, as Andrea Hall of MRI pointed out, is to petition "the government agencies," the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute for Health, and others. This is where the dependable money is.
As Hall noted, the days of the lonely scientist working in an individual lab are all but a memory. According to Dick Dreher, retired CEO of Children's Mercy, such labs used to generate some 40-45% of medical breakthroughs. Not anymore. The "era of lone researcher" is all but over, John Houghton observed. "Collaboration truly is they key."
Houghton's position reflects the norm. Today, collaboration is the magic word. Said Hall, "The NIH wants collaboration, not just with teams of scientists but with organizations." As a federal agency, and a powerful one at that, the NIH has no interest in advancing state sovereignty. Just the opposite. A collaborative grant across state lines has the benefit of appeasing four United States senators, not two, two state legislatures, not just one.
Said Hagen of KU, "The state line is an opportunity that is unmatched." He means this. His own experience has taught him that federal funding agencies smile on bi-state initiatives. " The opportunity is just now starting to be realized," he added. "We're working to erase that state line."
John Bluford of Truman Medical Center made the same point and just as emphatically. " "We're seeing the state line as an attribute," he argued, "rather than as a negative."
John McConnell of Labconco emphasizes that the city's goal should be to become the "best of the best" in the life sciences industry. UMKC Chancellor Dr. Martha Gilliland and Ingram's Executive Editor Jack Cashill look on.
