Sunny Schwartz, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation (MassBioEd) recently penned an opinion piece in the Boston Globe on the industry’s worker shortage. In the piece, A Worker Shortage for Life Sciences, Schwartz addresses what Massachusetts needs to do to fill life sciences jobs.
The article references a recent report by MassBioEd that found a 35 percent increase in the demand for life sciences professionals in the Massachusetts workforce over the last decade. Schwartz addresses how the current production of educated workers at all levels has failed to meet this growing demand, and proposes potential solutions to the problem, including creative hiring, increased awareness of the need for workers and a focus on soft skills for training programs.
Students in the Boston College Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) program are learning how to face these issues as healthcare and life sciences leaders. By continuing their education, they are also part of the solution to the challenges presented in A Worker Shortage for Life Sciences.