It’s well understood that medical schools create new physicians and that they have a positive economic impact for their host communities. But their role as business incubators and magnets isn’t as well understood. Yet, this is arguably the thing on which community and business leaders should be most focused.  And it’s one of the compelling reasons for state investment.

I had the opportunity to relocate to Spokane with my family three years ago. We have come to love the place we now call home. I have been particularly impressed with the concerted community effort to improve educational opportunities at all levels, specifically for the sciences. Yet, in medical education, we still have minimal access due to the limited number of first-year slots available.  As a physician and lifelong educator, this concerns me greatly.

Before moving here, I had the opportunity to be involved in medical schools in New York, Texas, Michigan, and Boston. I’ve held academic, administrative, and executive appointments at all of these schools. I’ve overseen grant funding, and I’ve been involved in research commercialization and technology transfer that generates spin-off companies. Let me offer some thoughts about medical school economics from a perspective gained in more than 30 years of experience. 

Medical schools employ three distinct types of faculty, all of which are critical to the educational process.  Teaching faculty are mostly in the classroom. Clinical faculty are mostly physicians who serve by teaching medical students clinical skills. Research faculty focus primarily on research and innovation, generating extramural funding and other revenues. Their role in generating jobs, contracts for other companies, and new businesses is at the core of medical school economics. 

Most of the innovations you see in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and medical procedures come from research conducted at medical schools. Examples of this include historically important advances, such as the polio vaccine, organ transplantation, and the use of monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of cancer. Research faculty can attract millions of dollars in federal and private grants that buy equipment, hire local employees, and create opportunities for local businesses to provide support. They are like start-up companies within the medical school.

Research faculty also create opportunities for collaboration with biotech companies, or sometimes they start new companies. Medical schools, in essence, serve as biotech business incubators. A good example is the University of Utah and their discovery in commercialization of BRCA 1 and 2 genes in breast cancer, and the subsequent launching of Myriad Genetics.  

Why should Spokane care? I would argue that this is our greatest opportunity to create new businesses and jobs that will create opportunity for people here. It’s the type of economic development that lifts many other businesses up as it grows. Medical schools also attract businesses that want to be near these researchers.

The biotech sector is an important economic growth engine because there are so many discoveries that have economic value. But today in Washington, Seattle enjoys the vast majority of this tremendous economic impact that University of Washington creates. Having Spokane play a larger role in medical discovery will help spread these benefits even further.

The University of Washington School of Medicine generated $5.7 billion in economic impact in 2011, yet our state ranks 25th nationally in economic impact generated by medical education. Why? Because we only have one medical school. States similar in population, like Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota, place well ahead of us. With five medical schools, Michigan generates almost five times as much economic impact as Washington state.

What’s the answer? We need a WSU independently accredited medical school in Spokane. While the University of Washington’s WWAMI program is a great medical education program, it doesn’t have the infrastructure in Spokane that will create economic impact. 

There are no UW research faculty based here. That was never the intent of WWAMI. The program should expand to train more physicians, but Spokane should actively support WSU’s vision to grow a full medical school here that will be designed to serve as an economic engine for the region. It won’t compete with UW. In fact, the two schools will be complementary and will have the effect of increasing the entire economic opportunity for the state of Washington. 

As the discussion in the Legislature shifts to budget, legislators should find dollars to support WSU’s medical school. It’s an investment that will yield a tangible return for Spokane and the state, not only in increased access to quality health care, but also to economic growth. We owe that to our future generations.

Dr. Francisco Velázquez is president and CEO of Spokane-based Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories and PAML Ventures.