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nother obstacle has been recruiting executive tal
ent. “Running a start- up is hard, and the odds of success in life sciences is very difficult,” he says. “If you are successful, then you are very successful, but it’s hard attracting CEO talent.” One effort to help with this is a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania technology department and the Wharton School, which is UPenn’s business school. The life sciences and medicine have a long history in Philadelphia, noted Molineaux calling it home to several medical firsts, including the nation’s first medical school and teaching hospital as well as the first pharmacy school and children’s hospital in North America. “There has been a long legacy of life sciences and success.” The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, now called the University of the Sciences, produced many of the founders of the country’s biggest pharmaceutical companies. Other local universities add to the talent pool, including the University of Pennsylvania, “which has a tremendous record of technology transfer and commercializing research from labs,” Molineaux adds. “Some of the strongest schools in the country can be found in the Keystone State, including those that top national and global rankings, and it currently ranks among the five states producing the most STEM graduates,” notes Åkerblom. City institutions also have been successful establishing partnerships with the federal government and receiving grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH). Building on that solid record of success, LSPA remains focused on attracting scientific and business talent. “We’re trying to continue to build the scientific prowess of the life sciences community; we would like to see work to attract CEO talent and attract money, the third leg of the stool,” says Molineaux. “We’re about advocacy and facilitating strategic connections; we’ve created here the strongest network of different types of resources anywhere. Any kind of stakeholder in the life sciences is represented in our memberships. As the network grows, that gives us more influence in advocacy.” NLS 60 NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG