Written by Kenton Hornbeck, LINK nky reporter
How Northern Kentucky is working to position itself at the forefront of health care innovation in the U.S. was explored as a topic at this month’s Eggs N Issues event hosted by the NKY Chamber of Commerce.
The event featured three speakers: Dr. Doug Flora of the St. Elizabeth Cancer Center, Dr. Victor Schmelzer of the St. Elizabeth Heart & Vascular Institute, and Tim Schroeder, CEO of CTI Clinical Trial and Consulting. The three spoke on how they see Northern Kentucky as having put itself in a position to grow economically through contributing to advancements in the health care industry.
Flora began by describing advancements in oncology at the St. Elizabeth Cancer Center.
“The use of drugs can augment a patient’s own abilities to fight cancers, removing the invisibility cloak from the tumors and amplifying the immune effects so that the patient’s body attacks the cancer itself. We’ve seen significant success that has revolutionized what we’re doing,” Flora said. “For us, it’s really nice to see Northern Kentucky getting away from chemotherapies.”
Schmelzer detailed improvements at the St. Elizabeth Heart & Vascular Institute. Heart disease is a serious issue in the Greater-Cincinnati region, he said. It’s a historically underserved area when it comes to heart disease and congestive heart failure. St. Elizabeth has set out to change this.
“Three years ago we hired our first heart failure cardiologist who’s certified in heart failure medicine,” Schmelzer said. “Now we have four. As an adjunct to the medical therapy, we were also able to find a cardiac surgeon who’s specializing in heart failure advanced therapies surgically. These individuals work hand and glove to take care of their patients.”
Tim Schroeder, CEO of Covington-based CTI Clinical Trial and Consulting spoke about how Northern Kentucky has been an example nationwide for COVID-19 vaccine testing and studies. CTI has been on the frontlines of the fight against the pandemic and is further developing COVID-19 vaccines related to different variants. Schroeder lauded the community’s willingness to participate in vaccine studies.
“This community has been extraordinary in participating in these studies,” Schroeder said. “Our participation rate is as high, or higher than any place around the country or around the globe. Our minority participation rate has been extraordinary. We’ve been acknowledged by some large companies such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Modera, for our African-American and Hispanic participation.”
The local health care leaders also addressed the region’s ability to attract talent.
Schmelzer said that St. Elizabeth has sought to build something bigger than a community hospital through its expanded offerings like those at the heart and vascular institute.
“This used to be a flyover state medically, especially in cancer. It’s all Boston. It’s all New York. It’s all Houston,” he said. “We typically could take the best fellow that graduated from the local university. We were always proud to get that person. That was enough to be decent and competent. The last four years, it’s been nuts. In the last two years, our last four hires are the Cleveland Clinic, the University of Chicago, an M.D. Anderson Radial Oncologist coming this summer, Moffit Center in Tampa, and Roswell Park in Buffalo. These are places that absolutely would not have looked at Northern Kentucky before. Each one of them brings, not just their experience, but the experience of their mentors.”
However, there remains a challenge in recruiting nurses, it was stated Tuesday at the business event in Erlanger.
“It’s always about the people. As a region, we’ve had some phenomenal wins as of late,” Schroeder said. “Whether it’s Amazon, whether it’s the announcement of Intel, whether it’s the automotive announcements of a couple months ago. Some things that Victor and Doug are talking about over on the health care side. If we don’t have that labor force, it really is challenging.”
Schroeder noted the region’s stable, well-educated workforce and relatively low cost of living as attractions for potential workers and businesses. Local investments have also made the region more competitive, he said.
“The middle of the country has been behind the rest of the country for some time. We didn’t have the venture capital, we didn’t have the entrepreneurial spirit, we didn’t have the leadership,” Schroeder said. “Things have changed very dramatically.”
Photo: From left to right: NKY Chamber of Commerce President Brent Cooper, CTI Clinical Trial and Consulting CEO Tim Schroeder, Dr. Victor Schmelzer or the St. Elizabeth Heart & Vascular Institute, and Dr. Doug Flora of the St. Elizabeth Cancer Center. (Mark Collier)
