Boston’s booming health care and bioscience sectors will be the focus this week for 150 Denver business and civic leaders traveling to Massachusetts as part of the annual Leadership Exchange sponsored by the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation.
In its 22nd year, the Leadership Exchange has visited numerous cities to understand how they’ve achieved business success and implemented successful policies.
The chamber’s Kate Horle said one reason Boston was selected is the city’s success in growing its biosciences sector.
The group will leave Denver today and tour the city and visit its leaders though Saturday.
Leanna Clark, executive director of marketing and community engagement for the University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus, said the quality and scope of productivity coming from Denver metro research universities compares favorably to Boston medical campuses.
“With that said, there’s still much we can learn from MIT, its bioscience park, and Harvard and its affiliates,” Clark said. “The opportunity for commercial bioscience development at Fitzsimons provides an enormous potential, and it’s always a good idea to learn how others are pursuing similar ends.”
Another focus of the trip will be to learn how Boston leveraged funding to build both the infrastructure and complementary organizations to help bioscience flourish, she said.
Dr. Jandel Allen-Davis, Kaiser Permanente Colorado’s vice president of government and external relations, said the group will study Massachusetts health care and health care reform. They’ll meet Dr. Gary Gottlieb, chief executive of Partners HealthCare, which includes Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Also, they’ll visit with Glen Shor, executive director of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority.
Hassan Salem, president of U.S. Bank Colorado, said Boston is “a terrific city.”
“They are big in health care and education, which are so critical to us,” Salem said. He said each year the group returns and discusses how the successes of the other city can be implemented.
