Whether you are working on a medical device company, a biotechnology company or a pharmaceutical company, and regardless of your size, you will always need resources. You may not want to "fly" someone in a few times a year and fret about the bills. Everyone talks about networking, but it is always good to have a backbone to rely on.
Recently, I was contacted by Jill Zimmerman, the director of marketing and communications at MedTech, a non-profit trade association serving bioscience companies in New York. MedTech has an interesting model. There is a very clearly laid out strategy to serve bioscience companies in New York. Memberships are collected from participating organizations, rather than from individuals, which I guess makes for a more sustainable model with better outreach.
MedTech also has an impressive strategy to serve it's members, including public outreach, marketing and promotion of the industry and networking.
http://www.medtech.org/media/documents/2009/3/MedTech_Vision_Mission_Strategic_Priorities.pdf
So, if you are moving to the New York Area and starting afresh, it may not be a bad idea to check out and see if your organization already participates in MedTech.
Events and Such
You can never have enough life science events, ever. So, looking at the rather impressive roster of events that MedTech, I am a bit jealous, positively speaking :).
You can find out more here:
http://www.medtech.org/events/list.aspx?cat=0
If you are new to CAPA or just need a refresher, events like this might be for you:
http://www.medtech.org/news/mediaroom.aspx?recid=1566
They also listed a webcast coming up for 5/12. I almost never have time for these things even though I promise myself I will. I still signed up, and will try my best to make it to this one.
Conclusion
Networking in interdisciplinary bioscience fields is very, very important. Find organizations such as MedTech that serve you locally, and when you find them, don't let go. Do you know of other resources that would be useful to folks? Please share them with me!
Reference:
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
