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Back in 2018, walking away from a conversation with North Pitt High School sophomore Diana De Leon, Mark Phillips knew he wanted to help her. He just needed to figure out how.
Phillips is North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s Vice President of Statewide Operations and Executive Director of its Eastern Regional Office in the public power city of Greenville, North Carolina.
De Leon’s interest in both the medical and engineering fields—and the fact that she was rebuilding a Mustang with her brother—inspired Phillips. On the way to his next meeting, the idea for the Pharma K12 Workforce Development Training Initiative came together.
He partnered with Greenville-based Thermo Fisher Scientific to make it happen, launching a pilot program in 2019.
The program enables high school graduates to participate in two and a half days of pharmaceutical manufacturing training at the North Carolina Pharmaceutical Services Network at Pitt Community College. They can do it as soon as the week following graduation. Along with learning good manufacturing practices, students gain hands-on experience with equipment.
“Four years into the program, we’ve had 24 of these young high school students hired, and of those 24, 21 are still working at Thermo Fisher Scientific,” Phillips said. De Leon is one of them.
A recent grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration is enabling Phillips and team to expand the program to up to 96 students over the next three years. It’s also enabling them to get the word out across the state about what a career in life sciences means.
“It does not mean you’ve got to have a four-year degree or a two-year degree,” he said. “It means that these career opportunities are there, and wherever you are along your career pathway, there’s an opportunity for you.”
Tommy Schornak, Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Vice President and General Manager in Greenville, told NC Biotech, “We see the Pharma K12 program providing the longer-term pipeline of local talent into our organization to support our growth and expansion in the coming years.”
In Johnston County, educational biopharma public-private partnerships are targeting even younger students.
Discover the Plasma is a collaboration between Grifols, Johnston County Schools, and Johnston Community College that brings real-world science curriculum to every eighth grader in Johnston County Schools. Using virtual labs, videos, and other engaging tools, students learn about plasma and the life-saving plasma-derived medications being made at the Grifols plant in the public power town of Clayton—the largest in the world producing plasma medications.
Along with that education, Chris Johnson, Director of Johnston County Economic Development, said students can connect the dots between what they’re doing in the program and a career making $70,000-$80,000 a year.
“Our desire is that the Discover the Plasma program, which started in 2015, will encourage students to take a genuine interest in STEM, specifically the science of plasma,” said Blaire Narron, Senior Manager, Grifols and Discover the Plasma lead. “Since its inception, the program has had an impact on over 23,000 eighth grade students in our county. As a result, an increased interest in bio-pharmaceutical programs has been seen at local community colleges. Inspiring young people to pursue careers in science and manufacturing is essential to Grifols’ ability to hire the next generation of talented individuals from the local community.”
JOCO WORKS, a program of the Triangle East Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Novo Nordisk, is a two-day career fair that introduces Johnston County eighth graders to the county’s top employers across a range of industries. The program is supported by education, business, civic, and government partners and provides in-depth industry insight.
“When you think of life sciences or pharmaceutical, you think of somebody sitting there making pills,” Johnson said. “We may not think of the machines involved, the robotics, or the facilities management. The fair shows students that there’s “so much beyond the chemistry part of it.”
For bio-manufacturing companies looking to locate or expand in North Carolina, these and other innovative training programs provide assurance that a skilled and ready workforce can continue to drive success well into the future.
