Global health envisioned as city's next hot industry

Can solving the world's health problems define Seattle as much as timber, aerospace and software?

When a baseball executive listens to an expert on tuberculosis and gets inspired to help, it shows how much interest in global health has grown, said Lisa Cohen, executive director of Washington Global Health Alliance.

That's the kind of partnership that a coalition of Seattle groups wants to encourage with a nonprofit called the Global Health Nexus.

The project is aimed at bringing together the expertise of local life-science companies, global-health researchers, businesses and nonprofit groups and engaging the public in their efforts.

The project is being announced Friday at the annual luncheon of the Prosperity Partnership, a coalition working to develop an economic strategy for the Puget Sound region. "We as Washingtonians have such pride about what's come before — whether it's timber, Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks," Cohen said. "We also have this personal drive to have impact greater than ourselves and leave the world a better place."

Bob Aylward, executive vice president for business operations with the Seattle Mariners, was moved to act after he heard about the work of Seattle global-health experts at a conference last year.

That's the power of what can happen when you get the right people in the same room, he said.

"We're sitting on the edge of a magnificent opportunity for this region to take this differentiated product, global health, and brand it as a sector that can go out and attract worldwide attention," he said.

The 1962 World's Fair helped define Seattle as a place for the science of the future.

As the 50th anniversary of the fair approaches, supporters of the Global Health Nexus want to build on that legacy and define Seattle's next age as the one that improves health around the world.

Organizers are planning a large conference in 2012 and an exhibition of the region's global-health advancements. The venture will have a Web site where major global-health events will be Webcast.

"We're all trying to go in the same direction and accomplish the same thing — to improve health outcomes for patients around the world," said Chris Rivera, president of the Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association.

"For a for-profit private biotech company, the fastest emerging markets are the developing nations," Rivera said. "We have to figure out how to partner with the organizations that already understand these markets."

From 2007 to 2009, jobs grew 5 percent in biotech and medical devices, he said, while overall jobs in the state fell nearly 2 percent.

The state is home to 175 biotech companies, 200 device makers and 28 research institutions, Rivera said. Collaborations between various institutes and companies will help the sector grow.

Researchers received about half a billion dollars in federal stimulus funding, he said, with more than $300 million going to the University of Washington alone.

"The biggest part of it is getting people to understand and meet with each other to find out where the common areas of collaboration could be," Rivera said.

Kristi Heim: 206-464-2718 or kheim@seattletimes.com