Gabriella Agostinelli
Fighting Poverty in Buffalo
Professor Magavern
March 28, 2013
Fact Sheet: Job Creation/Movement at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus
How many people work at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC)?
Employment numbers at the BNMC are always changing.
As of December 3, 2010, more than 8,500 jobs existed at the campus. 1 At that time, “well-paid
employment” on the campus was expected to increase to 13,000-plus. 2
According to the BNMC Master Plan, the campus currently employs more than 12,000 people. 3
Among these employees are at least 500 MDs, 200
PhDs, and 1,400 nurses.4
In 2001, less than ten companies existed at the BNMC.
Today, more than 50 public and private companies are
represented at the BNMC. 5
BNMC institutions have just completed nearly 2 million
square feet of construction and are about to develop over
one million more by 2016. 6 With the help of this
expansion, the campus is expected to employ about 17,500 people by 2017.7
1
Who are the major employers at the BNMC?
As previously mentioned, several groups now call the BNMC home. Among these organizations
are nine major member institutions: Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center, Buffalo Medical Group,
Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, Kaleida Health, Olmsted Center for Sight,
Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the University at Buffalo, Center for Hospice and Palliative Care,
and most recently, Upstate New York Transplant Services (UNYTS). While sources of
employment continue to expand over time, these institutions have historically made up a
majority of the employment at the BNMC.
 Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center
Employment at the BHSC includes full-time and part-time
positions such as speech language pathologists,
occupational therapists, classroom aides, special education
teachers,
audiologists,
physical
therapists,
and
substitute/assistant/volunteer teachers and therapists, etc.
Several administrative positions also exist. 8

Buffalo Medical Group
The BNMC is one of the Buffalo Medical Group’s (BMG) primary
locations. The positions most commonly available through the BMG
include LPNs, RNs, Medical Assistants, Certified Medical Coders,
Centralized Phone Center Staff, Medical Billing Office staff, Nurse
Practitioners, Polysomnographic Techs, and Physician Assistants. 9
BMG physicians are affiliated with Kaleida Health and Catholic Health
System hospitals, Erie County Medical Center, Roswell Park Cancer
Institute, and other hospitals in the region. 10 Most of these institutions
are represented at the medical campus.
 Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute
The Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute is a
biomedical research facility specializing in creating “novel
strategies and technologies to promote the understanding,
prevention and treatment of many human diseases.” 11 The
Institute currently employs more than 75 individuals at the
campus. 12 The HWI staff includes at least 20 Ph.D.- level
scientists and more than 20 technical staff members.13
 Kaleida Health
The largest healthcare provider in Western New York, Kaleida Health is also one of the BNMC’s
largest employers. 14 This organization is represented at the BNMC most notably through the
Buffalo General Medical Center and the Gates Vascular Institute. By 2016, the Women &
Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, currently located in Elmwood Village, will also join the campus
as the newly constructed John R. Oishei Foundation Children’s Hospital.15
2
Positions at the BNMC include clerical staff, clinical and support staff,
corporate administration, counseling & education, dietary needs
specialists, facilities support, health information providers, imaging &
technical specialties, lab staff, long-term care providers, management,
nursing, pharmacy, physician assistants, respiratory therapists, and
rehab & therapy support.16
The Buffalo General Medical Center is one of WNY’s top 5 Employers with over 3,600
employees.17 Smaller branches of Kaleida Health have also brought several jobs to the campus.
For example, the Clinical Translational Research Center has contributed about 150 jobs to the
campus, and it is expected to fill the remaining 40 percent of its building in the next two years.18
 Olmsted Center for Sight
The Olmsted Center for Sight is dedicated to providing vision
rehab services, job training and employment skills and specialized
vision care for those who are vision-impaired.19 Positions at the
BNMC through Olmsted Center for Sight include information and
referral specialists, orientation and mobility instructors, preschool special education teachers, work-experience trainees, and a host of substitutes, aides, and
interns.20

Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Roswell is one of the largest employers in Western New
York. There are over 3,300 employees at the Institute,
including over 200 physicians and scientists and 400
nurses.21 Roswell has also added more than 1,000
employees in recent years along with new facilities.22 Jobs
at Roswell include patient transport aides, clinical secretaries, clinical research associates,
research technologists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, operating room techs, clinical
assistants, telemetry techs, pharmacists/pharmacy techs, nurses, phlebotomists, lab techs/aids,
nurse anesthetists, nursing staff instructors, genetic counselors, plus many more.23
 University at Buffalo
The University at Buffalo School of Medicine will move to the
BNMC by 2016. 24 The medical school currently has 715 fulltime faculty members, though the school is expected to employ
approximately 850 full-time faculty members by 2016 as the new
medical school opens downtown.25
 Center for Hospice and Palliative Care
The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care (“Hospice Buffalo”) has
about 650 employees between Cheektowaga and the BNMC.26
Hospice Buffalo is represented at the campus through the St. John
Baptist/Hospice Buffalo Inpatient Unit, which provides short term
care for Hospice patients. The 8-bed unit specializes in “pain relief,
3
symptom management and respite care.” Thirty individuals currently work at the site. There are
no immediate plans to increase staff due to the limited number of beds available at the site.27
 Upstate New York Transplant Services (UNYTS)
With a planned move to the campus this year, UNYTS is
expected to contribute 200 employees to the BNMC in the
near future.28 At the campus, UNYTS will provide training in
phlebotomy and other tissue-related research and
developmental jobs.29
Other job news at the BNMC?




Construction Jobs: The campus has created several construction jobs. According to BNMC
website, new construction projects will add “hundreds of new construction jobs . . . by
2017.”30
Drug Research Company: Albany Molecular Research, Inc. will be joining BNMC and is
expected to add 250 jobs.31
Biotech/Diagnostic Firm: Immco Diagnostics, Inc. is set to bring 10 more employees to the
BNMC, increasing their employment to 20 at the campus.32
Employment at member-institution “spin-off” companies: Empire Genomics plans to hire 50
new employees over the next five years at its offices on the edge of the Buffalo Niagara
Medical Campus.33 Cleveland BioLabs Inc., having already brought 30 employees from its
previous home in Ohio, will be adding at least 30 more in this next year.34
But how many of these jobs are “new” jobs?
When analyzing job creation at the BNMC, one must discern between different types of “new”
jobs at the site. These include:




Mere “transfer” jobs from previous office locations (i.e. while UNYTS will be
“contributing” employees to the campus when the organization moves there this year,
it will likely only be bringing the same employees who are currently working for the
organization; they are not creating “new” jobs.)
Jobs the BNMC provides at the expense of a local competitor (i.e. if Kaleida Health
hires a “new” physician for the campus who had previously worked for another health
care provider in Buffalo, there is no net gain to Buffalo’s economy. This is not a “new”
job where only a shifting of local employers occurs.)
Jobs that did not exist in the past (i.e. if an innovative company at the campus offers
an employment opportunity that is new to Buffalo and isn’t being transferred from
another office in Buffalo and isn’t being taken from a local competitor, this is a net
gain to Buffalo’s economy and is truly a “new” job.)
Jobs that are “imported” from another state or country (i.e. when Cleveland BioLabs
brought several employees to the campus from their previous home in Ohio, the
company created “new” jobs that resulted in a net gain to Buffalo’s economy by
bringing jobs to NY from Ohio.)
4
Thus, only those jobs falling within the final two categories are truly net pluses to Buffalo’s
economy. While the campus has a goal of hosting 17,500 jobs in the next few years, most of
these jobs will only fall within the first two categories. Patrick Whalen, Chief Operating Officer
of Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc., has stated that the campus must go above that figure
to ensure real creation of “new” jobs.35
Whalen maintains that the best way for the
campus to revitalize Buffalo’s economy is
through private sector job creation. Due to many
factors – including the campus’ size and the
number of its employers – it is difficult to
quantify the amount of “new” jobs the BNMC has
created since its inception. Fortunately, that
number seems to be increasing. Here is some
proof:



Of the 50 companies in the BNMC’s Thomas R. Beecher, Jr. Innovation Center
alone, 48 are all new companies36
500 jobs within those companies did not exist three years ago37
A $100 million construction project already in progress is set to bring more than
1,300 jobs to the campus — including 100 new positions —through a six-story,
287,000-square-foot medical office building providing clinical, practical and
research office space.38
1
http://www.bnmc.org/wp-content/uploads/BNMC-Master-Plan-Update-FINAL_12-3-10.pdf
Id.
3
http://www.bnmc.org/work/
4
Id.
5
“Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus Named 2012 Outstanding Research Park” Association of University Research
Parks 2012. http://www.aurp.net/2012-outstanding-research-park
6
Id.
7
“Metro Rail extension eyed to shuttle workers to Medical Campus” (Buffalo News, 2/28/2013)
http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130228/CITYANDREGION/130229283/1002
8
https://www5.ultirecruit.com/BUF1005/JobBoard/ListJobs.aspx?__vt=ExtCan&__SVRTRID=FEA51FE2-4234419C-9774-F60166D36AD2
9
: http://www.buffalomedicalgroup.com/employment.html
10
“About us” BMG http://www.buffalomedicalgroup.com/aboutus.html
11
HWI Home Page http://www.hwi.buffalo.edu/
12
“Fast Facts” HWI http://www.hwi.buffalo.edu/about_hwi/fast_facts.html
13
Id.
14
http://www.kaleidahealth.org/careers/all-categories.asp
15
James Fink, “Canterbury Woods interested in Children's Hospital“ Buffalo Business First (Mar. 13, 2013)
http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2013/03/19/canterbury-woods-interested-in.html?page=2
16
Id.
17
http://www.bnmc.org/bnmc-members/kaleida-health/
18
“The Jobs of Buffalo’s Future Growing” (WKBW, Nov. 5, 2012) http://www.wkbw.com/news/local/The-Jobs-ofBuffalos-Future-Growing-177199181.html
2
5
“Programs and Services” Olmsted Center for Sight http://www.olmstedcenter.org/Programs-Services
http://tbe.taleo.net/CH08/ats/careers/searchResults.jsp?org=OLMSTEDCENTER&cws=1
21
“A Career at Roswell Park” www.roswellpark.org/careers
22
“Measuring Success” (Buffalo Business First, Jan 25, 2013) http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/printedition/2013/01/25/measuring-success.html?page=4
23
http://www.roswellpark.org/careers/listing
24
“UB goes to great lengths to recruit top medical talent to Buffalo” (Buffalo News 3/4/2013)
http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130303/CITYANDREGION/130309700
25
“Top physicians, faculty recruited to UB” (UB Reporter, March 14, 2013)
http://www.buffalo.edu/ubreporter/featured-stories.host.html/content/shared/university/news/ub-reporterarticles/stories/2013/medical_recruits.detail.html
26
“Hospice center plans layoffs during renovation” (Buffalo News, 11/7/2012)
http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121106/CITYANDREGION/121109477/1002
27
Personal Communication with Human Resources Representative, (Mar. 28, 2013).
28
“UNYTS interested in acquiring Sheehan site” (Buffalo Business First, Aug 29, 2012)
29
“Rejuvenated Sheehan Hospital will be a community asset” Buffalo News, Mar. 13, 2013.
http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130313/OPINION/130319769/1074
30
“Construction Updates” http://www.bnmc.org/explore/construction-projects/
31
“Senator Kennedy Highlights State Investment in Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus to Attract Albany Molecular
Research Inc.” (Dec. 4, 2012) http://www.nysenate.gov/press-release/senator-kennedy-highlights-state-investmentbuffalo-niagara-medical-campus-attract-alb
32
“Immco adds lab space, plans manufacturing expansion” (Buffalo Business First, May 4, 2012)
http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/print-edition/2012/05/04/immco-adds-lab-space-plans.html
33
(Company Press Release, Nov 1, 2012) https://www.empiregenomics.com/company/article/press-releases/empiregenomics-plans-to-expand
34
Personal Communication with Patrick Whalen (Mar. 29, 2013)
35
Id.
36
Id.
37
Id.
38
James Fink, “EC Exec lone dissenter on Conventus” Buffalo Business First (Mar. 25, 2013)
http://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/news/2013/03/25/ec-exec-lone-dissenter-on-conventus.html?page=all
19
20
6