PROVIDENCE – Call it a bad case of inauspicious timing. Last week the Boston Globe highlighted what it called the “cooling-down” of the life sciences industry sector in Massachusetts, reporting on thousands of biopharmaceutical workers who had been laid off in the past two years. The laid-off workers, Globe reporter Jonathan Saltzman wrote in his Oct. 10 story, “provide a snapshot of a sector settling down after years of hope and hype.”

Meanwhile, here in Rhode Island, hope and hype were being marketed as Gov. Dan McKee announced his selection for the new chair of the board of directors of the $45 million R.I. Life Sciences Hub.

The nomination of Neil Steinberg, the former president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, to serve as chair of the board of directors of the newly created quasi-public entity, the R.I. Life Sciences Hub, was one of the worst kept secrets of 2023.

The intent to elevate Steinberg to serve as chair of the new quasi-public agency had been voiced in early June by House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi, during a conversation with Boston Globe reporter Alexa Gagosz, soon after the legislation creating the Life Sciences Hub had been enacted by the General Assembly.

Neil Steinberg “would be my first call,” Shekarchi told the Globe’s Gagosz, adding: “Steinberg told me he would consider chairing the agency.”

Four months later, the unsurprising official announcement to elevate Steinberg to lead the R.I. Life Sciences Hub was made by Gov. Dan McKee in the State Room at the State House at noontime on Friday, Oct. 13. It was a manufactured news event – what is known as a “dog and pony show” in cynical news media parlance. (Earlier that morning, the Governor and Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor had held a presser to reveal the state's  plans to increase shelter capacity for the state's homeless population by 30 percent.)

How scripted an event was it? On a scale of one to 10, with one being “spontaneous” and 10 being “staged,” it was a 12 – manipulative to the max, in ConvergenceRI’s opinion.

Let’s set the stage. In the first two rows of the audience, in reserved seats, performing in their non-speaking roles, were an impressive array of Rhode Island’s life sciences academic and industry leaders: John Fernandez, president and CEO of Lifespan; Dr. Michael Wagner, CEO, Care New England; President Jack Warner, Rhode Island College; President Marc Parlange, University of Rhode Island; Dean Mukesh Jain, MD, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University; and Cassandra Thomas, Director of Economic Development, City of Providence.

Indeed, the very first line of the news release put out by the Governor’s communications team immediately following the staged event read: “Surrounded by leaders from across local government and the life sciences industry…” [emphasis added]

On stage, performing in their scripted speaking roles, were: Gov. Dan McKee; House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi; Neil Steinberg; Dr. Patrice Milos, a life sciences executive; and RI Commerce Secretary Liz Tanner, who will serve as vice chair of the board.

All that was missing, perhaps, from the coordinated show-and-tell of Steinberg’s elevation was a projected GIF on a big screen of Jim Nabors’ character, Gomer Pyle, from “The Andy Griffith Show,” saying in a sarcastic whine: “Surprise, surprise, surprise!”

Swallowing the bait – hook, line and sinker
The driving force behind the creation of the R.I. Life Sciences Hub has been House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi, who championed the legislation creating the new quasi-public agency. In the year leading up to the enactment of the $45 million package underwriting the Life Sciences Hub, Shekarchi had worked in close collaboration with Steinberg, during Steinberg’s previous role as president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation.

How close was their collaborative relationship? In Steinberg’s own words, here is how he described the Rhode Island Foundation’s involvement in commissioning a 2022 study to document the potential of building the life sciences industry sector in Rhode Island. “After decades of hearing about the life sciences industry being a potential growth engine for Rhode Island and that companies would come from Boston/Cambridge, we recently engaged Jones Lang LaSalle [JLL] to conduct an evaluation of the life sciences industry prospects for Rhode Island and potential ideas for how the state can capture some of the ongoing surge within the life sciences industry,” Steinberg said, in an email response to a question from ConvergenceRI.

Steinberg continued: “JLL has a dedicated practice in this field and has conducted similar studies in other places. They will get input from universities, hospitals, investors and companies working in the sector and we plan to widely share the results, including the public and governmental leaders. Among other considerations, they will address strengths, weakness, opportunities and the business environment.”

[Editor’s Note: Yes, JLL is the same firm that the McKee administration hired to evaluate the bid by the Philadelphia-based developer, Scout, to redevelop the Cranston Street Armory.]

[See links below to ConvergenceRI stories, “Another study planned to jump start life sciences sector,” and “Is RI shovel-ready to replicate the MA-model for life sciences cluster innovation?”]

Shekarchi’s messaging at the staged event held on Oct. 13 was on point and pithy: “We need to come together,” Shekarchi urged. “There is no turf war; there is one turf, and the turf is Rhode Island.”

Who’s missing?
The mission of the Rhode Island Life Science Hub is to “facilitate the development of medical advances and scientific breakthroughs with companies who specialize in the fields of medical devices, biomedical technology, medical therapeutic therapies, biogenetics, biomedical engineering, biopharmaceuticals, genomics and life sciences,” according to the news release. By definition, that certainly creates the potential for a big playing field.

And yet, given Speaker Shekarchi’s inclusive declaration that “The turf is Rhode Island,” it was then somewhat surprising that Ortho RI, a large, innovative, independent orthopedics practice that is a regional pioneer in robotics surgery, was missing from the conversation and excluded from the industry leaders being showcased at the dog-and-pony show on Oct. 13.

One week before Steinberg’s nomination as chair of the R.I. Life Sciences Hub was publicly announced by the Gov. McKee, Ortho RI celebrated an impressive milestone: “On Friday, Oct. 6, orthopedic surgeon Robert Marchand, MD, of Ortho RI, completed the 1,000th joint replacement surgery performed at the Ortho RI Surgery Center in Warwick,” the orthopedics practice announced in a news release.

“The Ortho RI Surgery Center, which has provided care since opening in 2021 at 300 Crossings Boulevard in Warwick, is home to innovative, same-day orthopedic surgery for patients throughout southern New England,” the news release continued. “The completion of 1,000 joint replacements at the Surgery Center, which includes hip and shoulder replacements in addition to knee replacements, is Ortho Rhode Island’s latest achievement in its role as a leader in state-of-the-art orthopedics.”

The news release highlighted the innovative way that the Ortho RI Surgery Center’s milestone 1,000th joint replacement utilized innovative robotic-assisted Mako technology. “Mako uses a 3D model of the patient’s anatomy to help create a personalized surgical plan,” the news release said. “The surgeon then follows this plan in the operating room, while guiding Mako’s highly precise robotic arm. Dr. Marchand is a pioneer of robotic-assisted orthopedic surgery, and recently completed his 9,000th Mako surgery. As one of the foremost robotic-assisted surgeons in orthopedics, he has contributed to the development and training of surgeons around the world.”

Translated, the success of Ortho RI’s innovative approach – creating a non-hospital centric, robotic-assisted orthopedic surgery center – seems to be an excellent fit for the R.I. Life Sciences Hub's stated goals: to promote “medical devices, biomedical technology, medical therapeutic therapies, biogenetics, biomedical engineering, biopharmaceuticals, genomics and life sciences.”

What’s missing?
In his inaugural speech talking about his role at the R.I. Life Sciences Hub, Steinberg stressed the desire to emulate what had been done in Massachusetts. On the platform formerly known as Twitter, Steinberg thanked Ian Donnis at The Public’s Radio for highlighting his nomination, posting: “Thanks for the shoutout @IanDon! Lot of potential to build and grow the Life Sciences sector for RI. I welcome ideas and support.”

The problem, from ConvergenceRI’s experience, is that Steinberg doesn’t always listen very well to ideas about how to follow in Massachusetts’ footsteps.

In numerous conversations with Steinberg when he was president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, ConvergenceRI suggested several times that the success of the life sciences cluster model in Massachusetts was based in large part on the annual publication produced by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, “The Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy,” which created important benchmarks for the state.

Patrick Larkin, the founding director of the John Adams Innovation Institute at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, who was responsible for directing the research enterprise to launch the $1 billion Massachusetts Life Sciences initiative in 2007, explained the importance of the Innovation Index. “The Index, for us, represents a baseline understanding of how we are doing in the Commonwealth in our key industry clusters. It is a starting point for anything that you want to do. I call it “the scorecard.” Where are we strong? Where are the trend lines going in other directions? And, what do we need to do to have an impact on our local economy?”

Rhode Island, for whatever reason, currently lacks a similar data-driven analysis for its life sciences industry cluster. Without such data-driven metrics, Rhode Island will always be flying blind in its efforts to build out its life sciences industry cluster.

Another case in point on the value of creating such metrics: Massachusetts was just awarded $19.7 million to host the Northeast Microelectronics Hub to create a regional hub that will advance the microelectronics needs of the U.S. Department of Defense, under the auspices of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. The response on X by Ian Donnis, one of the state’s top political reporters, was to post: “Welp.”

Breaking free of the silos
Another problem is an apparent lack of curiosity. The Institute for Applied Life Sciences at UMass Amherst offers a different approach on how to build out an innovation ecosystem, one that marries industry and the academic research enterprise. In late January of 2019, ConvergenceRI traveled to Amherst, some 90 miles away from Providence, to interview Peter Reinhart, the founding director of the Institute. [See link below to ConvergenceRI story, “Is RI willing to change its ‘not made here’ culture?”]

Yet, despite the fact that ConvergenceRI made the suggestion numerous times to folks at CommerceRI, to the University of Rhode Island, and to Rhode Island Foundation, that they should drive to Amherst and tour the facility to investigate the model that has been created on how to connect the academic research enterprise with early stage biotech industry product design and development, there were no takers. Why not?

Tone of voice
Earlier in the week, ConvergenceRI had attended a roundtable discussion on manufacturing in Rhode Island, sponsored by Polaris MEP, which featured an in-depth conversation with Sen. Jack Reed and several manufacturers, talking about the problems being faced by the industry clusters. (See second image.)

What was remarkable was the tone of voice of the conversation and the way that Sen. Reed listened to what was being said – and responded – in a quiet, forceful manner. When Sen. Reed didn’t know the answer, he said so. Unlike so much of what is wrong with our politics, there was no bluster; there was no attempt to push or promote a product or a position.

And, unlike the staged news conference in which Gov. McKee nominated Neil Steinberg to chair the R.I. Life Sciences Hub, there was no gimmickry or manipulation involved.

ConvergenceRI walked away, thinking about the interview that the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics winner Claudia Goldin had done with columnist Shirley Leung. “Economics is about people. It’s about inequality,” said Goldin. “It’s about the female labor force. It’s about health. It’s about economic development.”

Goldin had originally planned to spend Monday morning reviewing her graduate students’ curriculum vitae and job applications. Teaching, she said, has made her a better researcher. “I could never do research without doing teaching,” she said. “When I teach I am forced to confront what I think is the truth. .... I deeply thank my students, my undergraduates, my graduate students who pushed me to the frontiers of knowledge every day.”