Economic Development

Healthy Neighborhoods Albuquerque is an initiative for six location institutions (including UNM HSC) to buy local, hire local and support business development in underinvested neighborhoods to increase jobs. There are six members working on a variety of projects including Operation: Carrots and a hiring pipeline.

Other hospitals are trying a similar initiative. The idea is that 50% or less of a person’s or community's health relates to the health care. The rest relates to their education, jobs, living environment, etc. If we improve their socioeconomic status, we will increase their health and decrease health costs.

This center is charged with tracking the number of health care providers throughout New Mexico. It’s also tasked with studying New Mexico’s difficulty in recruiting and retaining health care professionals.

In 2012, the Health Care Work Force Data Collection, Analysis and Policy Act became a state law that called for:

• Required licensure boards for developing surveys on practice characteristics. 
• Licensure data to UNM HSC for stewardship and storage. 
• Establishment of the New Mexico Health Care Workforce Committee, to include statewide constituents. 
• Required evaluation of workforce needs and recommendations by the committee. 

Learn more in the 2017 annual report and 2016 executive summary. 

The GrowBio initiative unites public and private sectors to push biotechnology to the forefront of New Mexico’s economy. By providing new, high-paying jobs, this initiative is aimed at improving the lives of New Mexicans. So far, UNM has helped launch 38 biotech startups since 2004.

History

GrowBio started in February 2016, led by Richard Larson, the Executive Vice Chancellor and Vice Chancellor for Research at the UNM Health Sciences Center. The group started with the vision of creating an ideal environment to nurture the growth of biotechnology businesses in the state.

Today, GrowBio’s mission is to identify and advance strategies, and to increase awareness and support for our state’s bioscience sector among public decision makers, capital investors and in the wider community.

To learn more, and see a full list of participating companies, please view the GrowBio report.  

Run by the University of New Mexico Clinical and Translational Science Center, NMBioventure aims to provide opportunities for faculty, students and the community to learn about advancing the biotech sector in New Mexico.

Sparking Innovation

Some of the training, education and networking opportunities NMBioventure runs include:

• The UNM Clinical and Translational Science Center bringing undergraduates and graduate students in both the UNM Health Sciences Center and the UNM School of Engineering together in the Biodesign Program.
• The Clinical & Translational Center (CTSC) provides training in development of intellectual property (invention disclosures and patents), licensing, small business start-ups and NIH grants (SBIR/STTR) applications.
• Synergy meetings cover areas such as new technology, protecting intellectual property and learning about entrepreneurship. The meetings bring together basic, clinical and translational researchers as well as core directors, members of the local biotech community, and scientists from Sandia National Laboratories.
• The CTSC has developed a novel program with the NM Angel Investors, a New Mexico-based group of individuals focused on investing in early-stage companies across the country. The NM Angel Investors provide an avenue for UNM HSC research investigators to present early-stage ideas for investment and commercialization.
• UNM HSC faculty meet new people and network at mixers with the local business community.