Utah Appoints Director of State Life Sciences Cluster

The state of Utah has named Suzanne Winters, Ph.D., director of the Life Science Cluster. It is a newly created position that will operate under the direction of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and the Utah Science and Technology Research Initiative. The directorship holds primary responsibility for the implementation of the Utah Cluster Acceleration Partnership Life Science (UCAP LS), the core strategic plan for the development of Utah’s life science sector.

“It is a genuine honor to serve in the capacity of Life Science Cluster Director for Utah,” said Winters. “I look forward to working closely with key leaders from industry, government and education to support the evolution and growth of one of the most crucial sectors for the state’s economy. I am convinced that there is no more important contribution we can make for the life science community than to successfully implement the UCAP LS plan.”

Winters comes to her new post with a extensive of experience in industry, government and higher education. Directly before assuming the position of Life Science Cluster director, she served as the founding managing director of the BioInnovations Gateway, an innovative workforce training and business incubator that helps high-growth life science startups develop and execute promising ideas. She spent the first half of her career in research and development, focusing on product development and commercialization for medical devices, artificial organs and devices, including the Jarvik 7 Total Artificial Heart, and the IVOX, an implantable artificial lung.

Winters later served eight years at the intersection of science and public policy as the Utah State Science Advisor under Governor Michael O. Leavitt (who served from 1993 to 2003 and later as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2005 to 2009), working closely with the state’s research universities and life science industry communities. She holds a B.A. in chemistry and a doctorate in pharmaceutics. She has created content for numerous publications, both in the technical and public policy arenas, and holds multiple patents. She is a board member of several companies and non-profit organizations.

The UCAP LS report, performed by the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice in close collaboration with dozens of top Utah life science leaders, presents a picture of Utah’s life science sector as a dynamic community whose growth rate has significantly and consistently outpaced that of the nation. For example, employment in the state’s life sciences sector grew by nearly 26 percent from 2001 to 2010, compared to 8.4 percent nationally. In 2010, the sector contributed a combined $14.6 billion to the state’s economic output.

Utah’s life sciences sector is also a source of high-wage jobs. The average wage in the sector (which includes medical devices and equipment, pharmaceuticals, medical labs and biomedical distribution) approximately $59,000 annually in 2010, is 50 percent higher than the overall average wage for the state’s private sector employees.

Life science careers include working in medical devices and equipment, pharmaceuticals, medical labs and biomedical distribution. Winters says Utah has the jobs, but still lags behind in pay.

“Life science employment in Utah has been extremely resilient in good and bad economic times,” said Winters. “Throughout the downturn life sciences remained on an upward trajectory.”

At the same time, there is room for significant improvement in the sector. Utah’s average of life science wage, though much higher than the statewide average, is more than 30 percent less than the national average for a life science wage, $84,992.

Appointed on Aug. 2, by Aug. 14 she established a formal UCAP life science implementation team with four committees representing the overarching objectives of the report: Novel medical devices; molecular diagnostics and personalized medicine; molecular medicine, drug discovery, development, and delivery; and natural products and dietary supplements.