Head of the Class

Focused graduate education aims to fill the skills gap in biotech

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By Amber Lepage-Monette

In Canada, founding scientists often take on management roles as their companies grow, learning as they go what skills are needed to run a company.

Though this model of developing business talent is common, and works in some situations, a study released this fall by the Biotechnology Human Resources Council (Ottawa, ON) confirmed what many have long felt about the Canadian biotech industry: there is an overwhelming need for skilled management with business training.

While some biotech managers may want to learn the ropes from the school of hard knocks, future biotech management can pursue training at some of Canada’s leading educational institutions, which offer a variety of programs that, in their own ways, try to address this skills gap.

At one end of the spectrum, there are MBA programs that aim to provide students traditional business training with an underlying education in the life sciences. At the other, is a master’s program that aims to pair a strong science education with some much-needed business training.

Business School

Industry demand, geographical need and venture creation are some of the key focuses of the three following MBA programs available in Canada.

A mixture of experience and innovation, these schools share many similarities, yet feature some key differences.

The University of Western Ontario’s (UWO) (London, ON) Richard Ivey School of Business MBA Biotechnology Stream, along with the University of Saskatchewan’s (U of S) (Saskatoon, SK) MBA with a specialization in Biotechnology Management, have both recently seen the first set of students graduate from their specialized MBA programs.

The third program, Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) (Burnaby, BC) Management of Technology (MOT) MBA, which offers a specialization in both Management of Technology and Management of Biotechnology, is the “veteran” in this hat trick — its biotechnology section is now three years old.

All three programs were designed to address the industry need for skilled biotech management. All three tend to attract students with science backgrounds who are looking to add business skills to their resumes.

Another commonality is that each of the three programs also features a hands-on project, where students are paired with a company and given a business problem to solve. The students must analyse the problem, and at the end of the project issue the company a report.

The project allows students to get some practical experience, says Grant Isaac, PhD, associate professor and chair of U of S’s biotechnology specialization MBA.

Students become integrated into the companies, and, “In many cases . . . they set up an office there, and they generally become part of the team,” he says. “An amazing amount of experiential learning occurs in a very short period of time.”

Despite these commonalties, the programs do differ somewhat in their approach and execution.

Jim Hatch, PhD, the director of Ivey’s MBA biotechnology stream, explains that though this specialization is new, the program is rooted in Ivey’s solid foundation.

“The program is an MBA program first, and biotech program second, in the sense that three quarters of their time is in regular MBA courses, one quarter of their time is devoted to biotechnology,” he says. “So these are people that are MBAs with MBA skills that could go into a variety of industries, but the students, for a variety of reasons, have chosen to focus on this industry in particular.”

The MBA biotechnology stream from Ivey is a two-year program that has a limited enrolment of 25 students, Hatch explains. Though he would like to see the program eventually grow, for now, he says, he keeps its enrolment down to ensure the students are getting the most out of it.

The program also takes advantages of proximity. Visiting faculty from UWO’s medical school, along with speakers from the life science industry, cover the biotech and science areas of the program.

Location, Location, Location

Proximity also plays a factor for SFU’s MOT/MBA, which was in part born out of a direct need in the province’s industry, explains Michael Parent, PhD, the academic director of MBA programs at SFU.

“The Management of Technology program itself, of which the biotech specialization is one part, grew out of an industry need in the mainland and in the province of British Columbia for skilled technology managers,” Parent says.

The program, which mainly has students already working in the biotech sector, is organized in two parts — one year full time and two years part time — and typically enrols between 10 and 12 students.

U of S’s program also owes its development in part to local industry. Not only is it hoped the 12-month program will help produce skilled management, but also that such management will benefit the province’s industry overall.

Isaac says commercialization of technologies in Saskatoon has often benefited those outside the province. When U of S discussed the reasoning behind the commercialization problem with those in the industry, the answer was clear, he says.

“We just didn’t have the people around here with the scientific background plus the business experience to be able to do that in a successful way,” he says.

For that reason, the U of S biotech specialization MBA focuses on venture creation.

“We’re not looking specifically at a program to train financial analysts in the biotech sector,” Isaac says. “We’re looking at this from the point of view that, with an MBA, somebody expects you to be an integrated business decision-maker.

“So, they expect you to be able to look at, analyse, and come to a potential solution to various business problems across all their functional dimensions — accounting, finance, and marketing. And we wanted to take that philosophy and apply it to the biotech sector.”

The U of S tries to limit the enrolment in each of its MBA program specializations — which includes Biotechnology Management, along with Agribusiness Management, Health Services Management, Indigenous Management and International Business Management — to 10 students. While some specializations are smaller and have yet to hit that number, last year the biotechnology specialization enrolled 15 students.

Isaac says that while he feels both students with and without science backgrounds that have the needed business skills can easily work in the biotech industry at the management level, those in the industry sometimes feel differently.

“There is a bit of a perception out in the marketplace that, unless you have an undergrad degree in science, you don’t really belong in the industry,” Isaac says. “And I actually think it’s kind of a harmful view, but it is pervasive.”

Isaac says that while there are benefits to both models — taking someone with a science background and giving them business skills, or taking someone with a business background and teaching them the science — U of S has seen some examples of its students with science backgrounds getting jobs more easily than those lacking a science background.

Science First, Business Second

The University of Toronto at Mississauga’s (UTM) (Mississauga, ON) Master of Biotechnology definitely subscribes to the belief that a strong science background is key.

“The strength of our program, really, is in the science understanding of our students and their ability to adapt and understand the business issues,” says Paul Horgen, PhD, director of Master of Biotechnology program.

“We don’t attempt to give them a mini-MBA,” he says.

“What we attempt to do is produce graduates who are very strong generalists, that is they’re not experts in any one particular area of biotechnology, but that they have an exposure to the cutting-edge issues, especially in the science area, and then we give them enough business so they understand how corporate entities function,” Horgen says.

UTM students are enrolled in laboratory modules, such as protein chemistry and genetics and molecular biology, and also business courses focusing on organizational, communication and time management skills, taught by professors from the University of Toronto’s (Toronto, ON) Rotman School of Management.

Students in UTM’s master’s program must also organize and host a symposium. Past topics have included stem cells and gene therapy, bioterrorism, and this year’s topic is biotech in developing countries, Horgen explains.

The students are responsible for all aspects of the symposium, from organizing it, to arranging for speakers and marketing the event.

While the MBA-focused programs allow students to get hands-on experience working on an actual business project, UTM has students gaining hands-on skills in a different way.

During the two-year program, UTM students take part in a co-op program, allowing them to gain workplace experience, and to put both the scientific and business training they’ve received to use. Several companies work in co-operation with UTM, providing students with the opportunity to apply for positions that run from eight months to one year, though sometimes longer.

Kevin Fehr, PhD is the director of basic research and genetics, R&D division of GlaxoSmithKline Inc. (GSK) (Mississauga, ON) who has had several UTM co-op students work within her department. Fehr also sits on UTM’s Master of Biotechnology advisory board, consulting on the program’s development.

“The program has been highly consultative right from the beginning,” Fehr says.

GSK has taken on students right from the first enrolled class, filling up to five placements per year through various departments within the company.

In Fehr’s department, students learn the ins and outs of running clinical trials, helping to co-ordinate patient data.

“The students actually go to the sites themselves; they monitor the records to make sure that the protocol rules are being followed carefully,” Fehr says. “It’s monitoring that is very similar to what would be normally done in clinical research, and it’s really an extra quality control.”

Students also sit in on business meetings and international teleconferences, Fehr explains, learning how business decisions are made and getting to understand what goes on right at the top level.

Some of the students who started out as co-op interns have gone on to earn full-time roles within GSK. One example is Daniella Dhalla, a student from UTM’s very first Master of Biotechnology class.

Dhalla explains that during her co-op placement she was given virtually the same responsibilities a study team leader would have, with the exception of such things as handling budget.

Though Dhalla at first started out assisting with others’ projects, GSK quickly became aware of what her capabilities were.

“They really realized that we were at the level with enough business experience that we could manage our own projects,” she says.

Dhalla says the business skills learned at UTM’s program came in handy during her co-op placement.

“The science details you can get in a lot of programs. But the business knowledge, specifically learning about teamwork, about how the industry functions organizationally, all of those things, that’s what’s important if you want to move into a job in the industry,” she says.

At the end of her placement, Dhalla was not only offered the chance to extend her placement, but also a full-time position within another department. Now, she’s a basic research and genetics associate.

Co-op students still need to go through an application and interview process before starting their placements, but UTM’s program provides them with the opportunity they need to get the initial contact with major companies in the industry, Dhalla says.

While the education provided at these graduate-level programs offers student an excellent foundation needed to move ahead in the business of biotech, hands-on experience, it seems, is still the best way to learn.

“For a person to be a valued contributor at a company, I think they have to be there for a while for some training within the company to apply their skills,” Hatch says. “I think that’s true of any education. You don’t just walk out and immediately add value to organizations.”