IU Visits Boston Scientific & Cook Medical

On Thursday, May 16 over twenty faculty and staff from IU and the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation toured the Boston Scientific manufacturing site in Spencer and Cook Medical World Headquarters in Bloomington. The event was organized by the Center for the Business of Life Sciences at the Kelley School.

The delegation was comprised of Sreeni Kamma, associate dean; RJ Niewoehner, operations & decisions technologies faculty; Mel Beldock, undergraduate career services; Jeremy Harmon, graduate career services; Kim Goad and Ron Thomas of Kelley Executive Education Partners and Kelli Conder and George Telthorst of the Kelley School of Business in addition to associate dean Travis Brown and Emma Raver of the Luddy School of Informatics and Computer Engineering. The O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs was represented by environmental governance faculty Kenneth Richards and Steven Bonney of career services.  The College of Arts & Sciences biotech faculty members Nancy Magill, Dave Bollivar, Dan Held and Dan Watts gave updates on the major established a few years ago and how it relates to the medical device industry.  The College’s Walter Center for Career Achievement external relations team members Andrea White and Elizabeth Bolyard attended as well. The Bloomington Economic Development Corporation President Jennifer Pearl & Clark Greiner, Business Development Director, and Owen County Chamber of Commerce CEO Marce King rounded out the discussion from a local workforce perspective.

At both sites IU and BEDC representatives were able to take tours of the production facility to see how products are manufactured and view finished goods. Amazing the level of detail, logistics, sanitation, tracking and quality control that goes into every device to ensure safety and efficacy to help improve the lives of patients around the world! It’s impressive to think that product just miles from Indiana University from both of these facilities is shipped out to markets all over the world!

Following the tours teams in roles that ranged from HR, finance, operations and product management took the time to meet with the group to talk about their workforce needs, skills they are looking for as well as intern and full time opportunities to grow their workforce pipeline. Each school represented talked about programs at the undergraduate, graduate and executive education levels and how those skills align with needs of these organizations. During this discussion there was a lot of exciting new possibilities of future collaborations and relationships to be initiated! As Brian Covert, global communications manager at Cook, said “our team commented later how much engagement and energy was in the room — on both sides”. Moriah Sowders, senior manager for communications & external relations at Boston Scientific shared she’s” hopeful that it’s just the beginning to more meaningful collaboration between Boston Scientific and IU”.

These opportunities will benefit students during and after their academic years into their careers in the life sciences which is a goal for all.  A very special thank you to Boston Scientific and Cook Medical for hosting!