Report: Health care in S.F. a 'sleeping giant,' but biotechs constrained

San Francisco’s surging biotech industry feeds off a network of research institutions, but lease rates and city red tape remain obstacles to growth, according to a report unveiled Wednesday at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce's “ForecastSF” event. The report, prepared by San Francisco State University associate professor of economics Philip King for the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California, found that hospital and biomedical spending in San Francisco totals $16.7 billion and is responsible for more than 104,000 jobs, or almost one in five jobs in the city. Mayor Ed Lee called the industry a “sleeping giant.” But the giant is restless, according to the report.

SF State master's program links business, science

With the help of a $700,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, San Francisco State University in 2010 launched a professional science master’s degree. The program combines training in business and science and includes internships with Bay Area companies.
Four students — three with NSF fellowships and one funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine — graduated from the program in December. Samantha Kubeck is a research associate at Nodality Inc. in South San Francisco; Adam Harvey is a researcher at SanBio Inc. in Mountain View; Casey Haynes is a scientist/business consultant with BetaStem Therapeutics Inc. a San Francisco stem cell therapy startup; and Joy Chananukul works for Cellerant Therapeutics Inc. in San Carlos.
Two additional students who started the program in 2010 but did not receive fellowships are finishing their internships and will likely graduate in May. Nine students began classes in fall 2011.
Lily Chen, professor of biology and director of the professional science master’s program in biotech/stem cell science, spoke recently with San Francisco Business Times biotech and education reporter Ron Leuty about the program.