Health Services / Biotechnology
Greater New Orleans has been a strong health services provider and active hub of research and biosciences activity, and the sector remains one of the region’s largest employers.
Regional organizations are working to continue fostering entrepreneurship and innovation, while creating a thriving regional biosciences and healthcare industry. The Regional Planning Commission (RPC) in collaboration with a myriad of public and private entities, has created a strategic plan for growing the biosciences. The result has been a regional biosciences collaborative (NORBI – the New Orleans Regional Biosciences Initiative) and a physical economic development district charged with growing biosciences investment.
At the center of this growing industry in New Orleans is a 2.4 square mile area in the heart of the Downtown Medical District, where leading medical schools, universities, hospitals, and research institutions are working to advance bioscientific knowledge. Some key developments include approved LSU and VA hospitals, which will create 6,000 jobs and $1.26 billion in annual impact; a $90 million Tulane-LSU Cancer Research Center under development; and the New Orleans BioInnovation Center, a 66,000 square feet state-of-the-art wet lab incubator scheduled to open in 2009.
Home to multiple colleges and universities with strong biotech-related degree and research programs in areas such as cancer research, gene therapy, neurosciences, biostatistics, and tropical medicine, Greater New Orleans creates a favorable research environment for scientists. Two of the three primate research centers in the country are in Louisiana, and Tulane University is expanding its Primate Research Center in St. Tammany. Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, located in New Orleans, is the only school of Tropical Medicine in the country. The development of the UNO Research center in Slidell will further grow the region’s leading research capabilities.
The region’s research base will be further enhanced with an infusion of investment. New Orleans received 70% of all NIH funding for the Gulf Coast, $100 million has been committed for primary care clinics, and $162 million of sponsored research awards were awarded to Tulane University in FY 2007.
Hospitals across the region are continuing to expand, including LSU Health Science Center and Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans; the creation of the St. Bernard Parish Hospital Services District; and the expansion of the Oschner hospital system, including new obstetrics departments, 2 new clinics in New Orleans and Kenner, and expansion on the North shore.
Links
Careers That Heal
LSU Health Sciences Center
Ochsner
Tulane University Medical Center
Greater New Orleans Biosciences Economic Development District
New Orleans BioInnovation Center
Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium
