Category:
Health/Science
Region:
USA
State:
Maine
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COLLEGE OF PHARMACY RX FOR LOCAL ECONOMY
Source: The Republican
Date: 29-Apr-2007
Western New England College's plan to open a school of pharmacy within the next two years is a smart strategic move for the college - and it's a prescription to improve the economic health of the entire region.
Jerry A. Hirsch, provost and vice president of academic affairs at the college, said last week that the new school, which could open as early as next year, is a "natural fit for WNEC." In addition to meshing with the school's mission, the 340-student school of pharmacy will advance the region's efforts to build a knowledge-based economy that can compete both regionally and globally.
The pharmaceutical industry is projecting a national shortage of 150,000 pharmacists by 2020, and the shortage is already being felt by Western Massachusetts hospitals and retail outlets, Hirsch said.
WNEC's six-year degree program will give local students an opportunity to study near home, filling an educational gap that dates back to the 1970s with the closure of the Hampden College of Pharmacy in Chicopee. When it opens, WNEC will be the only such school west of Worcester, which has a branch of the Boston-based Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science. The only other pharmacy school in the state is at Northeastern University in Boston. There are only three other pharmacy colleges in New England - at state universities in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maine.
The addition of a local pharmacy school coincides with Baystate Health's $249 million hospital expansion plan at its 54-acre campus in Springfield's North End. Both developments enhance the region's ambitions to become a competitor with high-technology centers in bigger cities such as Boston. WNEC's six-year program will open with a freshmen class of 60. It will grow each year into a full program with an enrollment of 340.
With a growing student body, the WNEC campus will embark on some capital improvements that will create construction jobs for the region. WNEC will build two student dormitories and double the size of a planned science building to accommodate the pharmacy school. That's another dose of good news.
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