Tunes in the Tent Kicks-Off June 2nd

tunes in the tent 2015Tunes in the Tent is back from noon-1pm on June 2nd! Tunes in the Tent is a popular, free musical performances  for Campus employees and community members. Our kick-off celebration features Ten Cent Howl in the park located along Ellicott Street at Virginia (across from HWI)! Here’s a sneak preview.
We’ll be hosting group and solo musical acts; the entertainment will feature Campus employees and local community bands. Grab your lunch,or buy them from The Roaming Buffalo or La Belle Epicure, and enjoy the local musical talent. Tunes in the Tent is free and open to the public.See this  year’s lineup below!

Tunes in the Tent schedule 2015:

6/2/2015- Ten Cent Howl

6/9/2015- Bruce Wojick

6/16/2015- Jamie Holka

6/23/2015- Mari McNeil

6/30/2015- Mark Winsick

7/7/2015- The Observers

7/14/2015- Alison Pipitone

7/21/2015- Ten Cent Howl

7/28/2015- Theresa Quinn Trio

8/4/2015- Dee Adams & Dave Kimball

8/11/2015- Rosewood Bridge

8/18/2015- The Larkin Plan

8/25/2015- TBD

Walking on Wednesdays is Back!

Walk during your lunch hour with your co-workers! Walking on Wednesdays (W.O.W.) , a great mid-day break walk, will get you back to work refreshed and ready to tackle the afternoon.

Join us at the RPCI Kaminski Park every Wednesday on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Walks are wp-contentroximately 1.5 miles. All walks begin at 12:10 p.m. and end at 12:40 p.m. Be sure to dress for the weather as walks take place whether it rains or shines, except if there is lightning.

Stop by the RPCI Farmer’s Market beginning June1 every Wednesday from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. before or after each walk to get some fresh vegetables, fruits, jams, baked goods and more.

For your comfort and safety, please remember:

  • Wear proper, comfortable footwear
  • Watch for eye-level bushes and trees
  • Watch for broken concrete, potholes and uneven surfaces
  • Obey all traffic signs and signals
  • Alert walk leaders and other walkers of unsafe conditions
  • Walk leaders have cell phones and should be notified of any incidents so they can summon help if necessary
  • Sun protection: sun block, (should be wp-contentlied a half hour before exposure) sunglasses, wide-brimmed hat
  • Adequate hydration before, after and during the walk.
  • Have fun!

BNMC-0240 WOW poster update v2-page-001

BNMC, Inc. Presents: Tunes in the Tent

Summer is just around the corner and so is Tunes in the Tent — a wide array of group and solo musical concerts. Starting June 3rd every Tuesday from noon -1PM there will be free live music on the BNMC in the park located along Ellicott Street at Virginia (across from HWI). The entertainment will feature Campus employees and local community bands. Grab your lunch and enjoy the local musical talent.
Don’t have time to pack your lunch? La Belle Epicure, located in the Innovation Center, will be offering boxed lunches. The box lunches will included a 6″ Italian sub or a vegetarian wrap , an wp-contentle, bag of chips, small cookie and a bottled water all for $7.00. To pre-order your lunch, call 716-998-6894.

Tunes-in-the-tent
Tunes in the Tent

 

Tunes in the Tent is free and open to the public.

June Line Up!

June Line Up!

  • 6/3 The Observers
  • 6/10Theresa Quinn Trio
  • 6/17 Patrick Lauerman
  • 6/24 Mari McNeil

– See more at: https://bnmc-old.local/tunes/#sthash.l1SEOyFi.dpuf

Open House on May 1st at the Thomas R. Beecher, Jr. Innovation Center Open House on Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus

An Evening Celebrating Entrepreneurship and Innovation;

More than 900 People To Attend

AN EVENING OF PURE INNOVATION (With drinks, music, hors d’oeuvres and prizes thrown in for good measure.)

WHAT: An open house for the Thomas R. Beecher, Jr. Innovation Center on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. More than 26 companies will be hosting events during the open house, featuring food, drinks, and entertainment, including live music, a golf simulator, and much more! A five minute “Power Pitch” session begins at 6:30 p.m. featuring several local entrepreneurs hosted by the Inventures Group.

Learn more about how these diverse companies are growing their businesses in this unique office environment. Industries include life sciences and biotech; creative; technology; talent acquisition; a pharmacy; not-for-profit; patent attorneys; and many more.

This free event is open to the community at large. A full list of Innovation Center tenants can be found here – https://bnmc-old.local/innovation-center-tenant-list/.

WHEN: Thursday, May 1st from 4:00 – 7:00 pm

WHERE: 640 Ellicott Street, Buffalo.  Complimentary car and bike parking in the lot directly across the street; the Innovation Center is two blocks from the Allen/Medical Campus NFTA station.

About the Thomas R. Beecher Innovation Center

The Thomas R. Beecher, Jr. Innovation Center, located at 640 Ellicott Street in downtown Buffalo, is a LEED-certified research and development space with over 55 tenants and 350 people, including life sciences and biotech companies, as well as companies offering support services like IP attorneys, talent acquisition, sales, and marketing. This state-of-the art facility is designed to accommodate small to medium companies seeking office, wet lab and/or research space, on a month-to-month basis or via longer term leases, located in the heart of the thriving Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

The Innovation Center is owned and operated by the BNMC, Inc., a self-sustaining social enterprise successfully combining innovation, job creation, and urban revitalization. The BNMC, Inc. serves as the umbrella organization of the anchor institutions that make up the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus located within the 120-acre campus bordering Allentown, the Fruit Belt and Downtown. The BNMC, Inc. fosters conversation and collaboration among its member institutions, its partners and the community to address critical issues impacting them, including entrepreneurship, energy, access and transportation, workforce and procurement, neighborhoods, and healthy communities, with the goal of increasing economic development and building a strong community.

OPEN HOUSE ON MAY 1st AT THOMAS R. BEECHER INNOVATION CENTER ON BUFFALO NIAGARA MEDICAL CAMPUS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Contact:

Kari Root Bonaro, BNMC, Inc.

716.218.7157, kbonaro@bnmc-old.local

MEDIA ADVISORY AND PHOTO OP

 

OPEN HOUSE ON MAY 1st AT THOMAS R. BEECHER INNOVATION CENTER

ON BUFFALO NIAGARA MEDICAL CAMPUS

An Evening Celebrating Entrepreneurship and Innovation;

More than 900 People To Attend

 

AN EVENING OF PURE INNOVATION (With drinks, music, hors d’oeuvres and prizes thrown in for good measure.)

 

WHAT: An open house for the Thomas R. Beecher Innovation Center on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. More than 26 companies will be hosting events during the open house, featuring food, drinks, and entertainment, including live music, a golf simulator, and much more! A five minute “Power Pitch” session begins at 6:30 p.m. featuring several local entrepreneurs hosted by the Inventures Group.

Learn more about how these diverse companies are growing their businesses in this unique office environment. Industries include life sciences and biotech; creative; technology; talent acquisition; a pharmacy; not-for-profit; patent attorneys; and many more.

This free event is open to the community at large. A full list of Innovation Center tenants can be found here – https://bnmc-old.local/innovation-center-tenant-list/.

WHEN:Thursday, May 1st from 4:00 – 7:00 pm

WHERE:640 Ellicott Street, Buffalo. Complimentary car and bike parking in the lot directly across the street; the Innovation Center is two blocks from the Allen/Medical Campus NFTA station.

 

About the Thomas R. Beecher Innovation Center

The Thomas R. Beecher, Jr. Innovation Center, located at 640 Ellicott Street in downtown Buffalo, is a LEED-certified research and development space with over 55 tenants and 350 people, including life sciences and biotech companies, as well as companies offering support services like IP attorneys, talent acquisition, sales, and marketing. This state-of-the art facility is designed to accommodate small to medium companies seeking office, wet lab and/or research space, on a month-to-month basis or via longer term leases, located in the heart of the thriving Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

 

The Innovation Center is owned and operated by the BNMC, Inc., a self-sustaining social enterprise successfully combining innovation, job creation, and urban revitalization. The BNMC, Inc. serves as the umbrella organization of the anchor institutions that make up the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus located within the 120-acre campus bordering Allentown, the Fruit Belt and Downtown. The BNMC, Inc. fosters conversation and collaboration among its member institutions, its partners and the community to address critical issues impacting them, including entrepreneurship, energy, access and transportation, workforce and procurement, neighborhoods, and healthy communities, with the goal of increasing economic development and building a strong community.

 

###

 

Space Growing Scarce at a Medical Campus Seeking its Niche – Buffalo News Story

Fast-growing center seeks its place in the crowded biomedical sector

(Photos from The Buffalo News)

Published: 06/8/2013, 7:15 PM

As the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus works to overcome the region’s reputation as a high-tax, Rust Belt destination, it is already attracting enough tenants to be outgrowing its footprint, with two million square feet of space already added and another two million square feet planned by 2016. From left, electric cars charge in the parking lot across from the Innovation Center. Michelle Roti, a research technician, adds antibiotics to a growth media for cells at Tartis/Aging. Tivona Renoni, from GO Bike Buffalo, left, and Henry Raess work in the Innovation Center. Matthew Masin/Buffalo News

By Stephen T. Watson | News Staff Reporter | @buffaloscribe

The Texas Medical Center in Houston is the largest medical campus in the world, with 106,000 employees working in 290 buildings spread over an area 50 percent larger than Darien Lake theme park.

The powerhouse University of Pittsburgh pulled in $127 million in National Institutes of Health research grants this year, eight times the University at Buffalo’s total.

And the Miami Health District generates a $3 billion annual economic impact for Miami-Dade County in South Florida.

Skeptics wonder how the younger, and far smaller, Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus can carve out a similar niche in the nation’s crowded and highly competitive biomedical sector, while overcoming the region’s high-tax, Rust Belt reputation in order to recruit scientists, doctors and entrepreneurs.

But experts contend Buffalo is not too puny or too far behind the other centers, and the Buffalo Niagara campus will succeed if it leverages its advantages of strong community support, collaborative decision-making and proximity to Southern Ontario.

“I get some rolling eyes when I say, ‘Buffalo’s doing a terrific job’,” said Charlie Dilks, a consultant and former president of the Association of University Research Parks. “They say, ‘Buffalo’s a dead city.’ I say, ‘No, it’s not.’

“That’s from people who haven’t been there and haven’t seen what’s going on. Unfortunately, it takes a long time for reputations to change.”

Other cities have found that a robust medical campus generates an array of benefits, from boosting health care, improving medical education, attracting research funds and creating jobs by taking innovations from the laboratory to the marketplace. That’s why cities, health care providers and universities pool resources.

“That’s what an academic medical center does,” said Candace S. Johnson, deputy director of Roswell Park Cancer Institute, citing the revenue generated at Pitt, where she previously worked. “It would be fantastic if we had that.”

The 11-year-old Buffalo Niagara campus is growing quickly, with two million square feet of space – or about 10 Walmart Supercenters – added in the past two years and another two million square feet planned by 2016. Employment on site will grow from 12,000 to 17,000 by then.

But the land-locked, 120-acre campus is starting to feel a space squeeze, with an Innovation Center that houses young companies nearly filled. Campus officials are thinking vertically and planning construction of a new center on top of a parking ramp to make better use of space.

“We can’t build five-story buildings anymore. We have to maximize the site,” said Patrick J. Whalen, the campus’ chief operating officer.

Life-sciences jobs

Other cities may have much bigger medical campuses, but the biomedical field is a crowded one, and the industry is big enough – and specialized enough – that no single region or institution can dominate, according to Simon J. Tripp, senior director of the technology partnership practice for Battelle, a global research and development organization.

The nation has about 125 academic medical centers, including Buffalo, and all are trying to build a life-sciences economy from the research they perform, Tripp said.

“The pie is so incredibly large that even a small slice, particularly for a community the size of Buffalo, can be a pretty significant economic engine,” he said.

The successful medical campuses have strong leadership, are treated as a community priority and their member institutions play nice with each other, said Dilks, the industry consultant. “I don’t think you’re too late to the game at all,” he said of Buffalo.

The hard part, Tripp added, is creating a “comprehensive innovation ecosystem,” with sufficient venture capital and veteran leadership to build and support a network of startups.

The region needs to capitalize on its strengths as a border community with an educated workforce and low cost of living, experts said, while finding a niche in a field such as genomics or cancer research.

“You get to where you’re recognized as a center of excellence in something,” said Thomas A. Kucharski, president and CEO of Buffalo Niagara Enterprise. “I think all that is starting to take hold on the medical campus. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time.”

Collaboration models

The medical campus organization – which represents UB, Roswell Park, Kaleida Health and other institutions – is a model of collaboration that followed less-successful efforts in the 1980s and ’90s.

“I think people were ready,” said Thomas R. Beecher Jr., an attorney who headed the medical corridor planning effort in the early 2000s.

Local organizers extensively studied the best practices at other centers and research parks.

“Tom Beecher said, ‘No sense reinventing the wheel. Let’s steal shamelessly from other places,’ ” Whalen recalled.

The Buffalo team learned, for example, the organization that runs the vast Texas Medical Campus makes enough money from the 27,500 parking spaces it owns to cover its overhead costs. Now the entity that runs the Buffalo campus is “pretty much self-sufficient” from parking and Innovation Center rent revenue, Whalen said.

Community benefits

It will take time for the benefits of the medical campus development to reach the surrounding neighborhoods.

Ruth Bryant, a retired assistant dean in UB’s School of Architecture and Planning, serves as the Fruit Belt’s representative on the medical campus board. She said residents are concerned about boosting home ownership in their neighborhood, ensuring they have access to the jobs created on the campus and keeping the cars and SUVs of campus employees from crowding their streets.

“How do you respect that neighborhood while still growing?” Bryant asked. “It’s the residents working with the campus to come up with the solutions.”

Officials acknowledge the campus won’t be considered a success until research is spun off into biotech companies.

“If you look at other models and other communities out there, it’s the private sector investment that drives everything,” said Enstice.

Innovation Center

Not every life-sciences company will succeed – as the demise of SmartPill Corp. showed – but the Innovation Center on the Buffalo campus is spurring this effort.

There are 63 companies in the center named for Beecher, including a fourth-floor incubator.

The center hosts Bagel Fridays, where tenants casually engage over a light breakfast, and three projects have grown out of the weekly gatherings.

“The building has great energy,” said Rob Wynne, the president and executive creative director of Wynne Creative Group, an advertising agency that moved its six employees to the Innovation Center in 2012.

Mobile HealthCare Connections was the first incubator tenant. The company works with doctors, nurses and pharmacists to provide real-time, in-home monitoring and management of patients, particularly those who are elderly and less able to get around.

“It’s the heartbeat of the medical community,” CEO Brian Egan said.

The Innovation Center opened in 2010, part of a recent flurry of construction activity, and 5,000 more workers are expected on campus by 2016, when Children’s Hospital and UB Medical School are opened.

City Comptroller Mark J.F. Schroeder has asked Whalen, the campus’ chief operating officer, to meet with representatives of credit ratings agencies to show them the development taking place on the medical campus.

One woman from Standard & Poor’s, looking at a map of the campus, told Whalen they seem to be running out of room.

Thinking vertically

The campus has to think vertically, Whalen said, as when UB’s Clinical and Translational Research Center and Kaleida’s Gates Vascular Institute were stacked in the same building. One option for the second Innovation Center fits this model.

The campus needs to build another center to house Albany Molecular Research Inc. and the other tenants of a drug and medical research facility.

The first plan, which would have required tearing down part of the former Trico complex, ran into objections from preservationists.

Now, campus officials are looking at a different wp-contentroach: Tearing down the aging, city-owned Ellicott Goodrich Garage, known as the EGG, and replacing those 900 spaces with a 1,600-vehicle ramp and several floors of research space on top of the $87 million structure.

AMRI, the anchor tenant, and its partners are receiving a $50 million state grant to support their move to the campus.

The hope is the next AMRI won’t require any financial carrot, because the prospect of locating on the medical campus will be attraction enough.

“It’s the culture change this is bringing to Buffalo. The campus makes that undeniable,” said Marnie LaVigne, UB’s associate vice president for economic development. “I have my own mother asking me, ‘Is this real?’ It’s real.”

email: swatson@buffnews.com

BNMC Launches Neighborhood Explorer Program

DSC_0021Employees on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) have the opportunity to discover more places to shop, eat, receive great services and be entertained right in the neighborhoods surrounding their workplace. The vivacious neighborhoods found in Allentown, downtown Buffalo and the Fruit Belt all have some of the best places to enjoy a quick lunch break or night on the town. A part of the BNMC master plan, the work being done to support our neighbors is evidence of a commitment to ensure that the resources going into the BNMC do not result in a positive impact only within the boundaries of this 120-acre Medical Campus.
Buffalo VisitThrough the Neighborhood Explorer Program, the more than 12,000 employees that work on the BNMC can now discover, engage and support local businesses as they receive discounts and incentives for their patronage. Employees can plan their next trip to the restaurant they always wanted to try or even stumble across a boutique that they have never heard of. It all starts with expanding the experience in the area beyond the context of the trip to and from work, especially for the employees that do not reside in the area and are not too familiar with all of the amenities that are available.

There are more than 50 businesses offering products and services to each employee that signs up to participate in this FREE program. All employees have to do is find out when and where they can pick up their wallet-sized Explorer Card, present their ID badge and check the list of participating businesses and begin using the card. It really is that simple. View a list of participating businesses here.

Businesses will have window clings that will help to identify themselves as a participating business offering BNMC employees a discount.

The BNMC and these neighborhoods have more in common than the close proximity to one another. Each of them promote growth, unity, a better quality of life for all and economic development – it’s a community. All employees can sign-up to receive the Explorer Card. If you are a BNMC employees and want to begin enjoying the benefits of the community that you work in or if you want to learn more, visit bnmc-old.local/explore/neighborhood-explorer-program where a schedule of sign-up locations will be posted.

BNMC employees, become an Explorer today! Sign-up to receive your Explorer Card here.

If you’re a local business interested in participating, contact Ekua Mends-Aidoo at 716.218.7806 or emends-aidoo@bnmc-old.local.

UB Goes to Great Lengths to Recruit Top Medical Talent to Buffalo – Buffalo News Story

Buffalo News)
(Photo from The Buffalo News)

Published: 03/3/2013, 11:54 PM Updated: 03/3/2013, 11:54 PM

Buffalo News Article: The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus – and the opportunity for growth it promises – is helping UB attract some of the country’s top doctors to its medical school faculty.

BY: Jay Rey /Buffalo News Staff Reporter

Recruiting top doctors and medical researchers to Buffalo is not unlike the Bills or Sabres going after blue-chip free agents.

Buffalo may not be high on their list of destinations – or on their list at all – when bigger, warmer or more lucrative markets are out there.

Buffalo? thought Dr. Andrew Talal.

Dr. Gil Wolfe was hesitant, too.

And Dr. John Tomaszewski was sure Buffalo wasn’t for him, even before he stepped off the plane.

That’s part of the recruiting process the University at Buffalo is going through right now as it grows its School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Over the next three years, UB plans to hire more than 100 full-time medical faculty members in preparation for the 2016 opening of its new medical school, which will serve as a linchpin for an emerging Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

 

But luring smart, high-priced medical talent to the region isn’t as impossible as you might think.

If you can get them to visit – that’s the key – Buffalo can convince them it is a city on the rise and they can be a part of building something special.

“People want to be in a place that’s moving forward with a vision,” said UB President Satish Tripathi. “The way I feel is, if we are able to clearly state our vision and provide them the resources to succeed, people will come.”

“You got to get them on the airplane,” said Dr. Anne Curtis, chairwoman of the department of medicine at UB, who was recruited a few years ago. “Get them on the airplane and get them here, and then we can do OK.”

That’s why Talal, Wolfe and Tomaszewski eventually came around to Buffalo, with dozens more expected to follow.

“I began to understand that there really is a new day in town,” said Tomaszewski, who came from Philadelphia more than a year ago.

The added faculty will allow UB to increase enrollment at the medical school, from which the region gets many of its future physicians.

In addition, these newly hired doctors – who will set up practices and labs and hold positions at area hospitals – will bring some needed depth and breadth to Buffalo’s medical community, as UB targets specialists in areas where the region has a shortage.

It’s helping set the stage for a better, 21st-century health care system, where people from the region can be treated for most any condition by local doctors, said Michael Cain, vice president of health sciences and dean of the medical school.

And in a way, it serves as a reminder that Buffalo really is making progress, especially when the community’s Rust Belt image is seen through the fresh eyes of these newcomers.

“We fell in love with the city,” said Dr. Anthony Martinez, an associate professor of medicine, who moved to Buffalo from San Diego in December. “It just feels like there’s something going on here. It’s hard to describe, it’s just something you feel.”

But first, you have to get them to Buffalo.

Seeing the potential

Actually, Cain said, it hasn’t been that difficult.

“In all the recruiting I’ve done in the past six years, I’ve had no one turn us down because it was Buffalo,” Cain said.

In fact, UB landed its top choice for each of the 10 leadership positions recently filled for the medical school, Cain said.

They see the potential in Buffalo.

UB and Kaleida Health opened a state-of-the-art research building last year on Ellicott Street.

An 11-story addition to Roswell Park Cancer Institute breaks ground this year.

A new Women & Children’s Hospital is expected to open in 2016 – as is UB’s $375 million medical school.

“If you come here,” Cain tells the recruits, “you’re going to be part of a growing, expanding academic health center, and after four or five years, you will feel that you have contributed to making something better.”

It’s a vision that attracted Curtis, who came to UB in 2010 from the University of South Florida in Tampa, where she was chief of cardiology.

“People who are builders get excited about that,” Curtis said. “They see an opportunity to put their mark on something.”

Buffalo also caught the attention of Dr. Vanessa Barnabei, who had other offers but came to UB last fall from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, where she was director of obstetrics and gynecology.

“When I came here, I was very impressed by the opportunity for growth that’s going on, that’s being planned and is actually going to hwp-contenten,” Barnabei said. “You never know sometimes. People make these grand plans. But here, it really does look like it’s going to move forward.”

UB has been hiring for the medical school the past few years to fill vacancies and replace retired professors. Currently, the medical school has 720 full-time faculty members.

But the university wants to increase that number to as many as 850 over the next three years, as the need to train more physicians grows around the U.S.

A combination of resources – including philanthropy and money raised from state tuition increases – will be used to finance the school’s growth.

It’s that commitment of funds to build a better medical program at UB that helped lure Wolfe, who arrived at the end of 2011. He was recruited from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas to head the department of neurology at UB.

“This was not the first chair opportunity I was offered,” Wolfe said, “but looking back and hearing what hwp-contentened in those other situations, I’m glad I’m here. The level of state support – and even community support – doesn’t match what I’ve experienced here.”

That’s not to say the initial reaction to Buffalo is always enthusiastic.

Intriguing interview

Tomaszewski was recruited from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

As he arrived in Buffalo for his first interview, the Philadelphia native remembers looking out the window of the plane and thinking: “I am not coming to Buffalo.”

But Tomaszewski’s interview was intriguing. It turned into another visit, then another. And during every conversation, another dimension he found engaging was revealed. He became chairman of the department of pathology and anatomical sciences at UB in the fall of 2011.

“Buffalo has a whole bunch of cards assembled to be a first-rate, modern health care system in the model that’s going to be successful going forward,” he said.

Talal, who was recruited from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, had a similar reaction when he received an email from the search firm.

“Who wants to go to Buffalo?” Talal thought to himself.

He promptly deleted the email.

But after being asked to speak in Buffalo, Talal learned more about what was going on at the university and the emerging medical campus. His opinion was changing.

When Talal returned to Manhattan, he reached out to the search firm. It took his daughter getting admitted to City Honors School and his wife – who is also a professor – to be recruited by UB, but Talal eventually joined the university in September as chief of the division of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition.

“Buffalo is an interesting community in the sense you have a lot of very top-notch things, but they haven’t been highly publicized,” Talal said. “There’s a lot more here than the city is given credit for.”

Now the recruited have become the recruiters.

A rare opportunity

The doctors acknowledge that Buffalo can be a tough market to recruit.

It’s just enough out of the way and close enough to major metropolitan areas, where top talent would rather head, Barnabei said.

But they also believe the medical growth planned for Buffalo is a rare opportunity for faculty, especially at a time when schools around the country are trying to cut costs.

“A lot of academic medical centers in 2013 are not growing,” Curtis said. “They see health care changing. They don’t see a need for more people. They’re treading water. Their staffs are full.”

“There are good people coming out of training who want an academic career but are finding the opportunities are somewhat [more] limited than in the past,” Curtis said.

“Times are tight,” added Tomaszewski. “California is a good example. Because of its finances, it really had to downsize its state university system, so there’s a lot of faculty on the market.”

And once the prospects see Buffalo, they understand the wp-contenteal.

“I enjoy Buffalo,” Wolfe said. “I’ve become a big booster for the city. I have to be, but I can do it in a sincere fashion. There are great recreational opportunities. The arts are excellent. The restaurant scene holds its own very well in comparison to even larger cities. And the cost of living, from a real-estate standpoint, is a big bonus.”

Barnabei and Tomaszewski were struck by the friendliness of the community. He recalled moving into his office – arms full, fumbling with his access card – when a woman saw him from the third floor of the building and came down to open the door for him.

“If you keep an open mind enough to give it a chance, it’s the kind of place that the more you look the more you find,” Martinez said. “If you just give it a chance, the more it gets under your skin and grabs you.”

When Talal, his former mentor, recruited Martinez to Buffalo from the University of California, San Diego, Martinez and his wife rented a place in Elmwood Village for a week to determine if Buffalo would suit them.

Martinez, a native of Providence, R.I., and a huge hockey fan, immediately got Buffalo. He saw how the cold weather and tough economy shaped this community for the good.

“I’ve never been in a place that has such a strong sense of community. That seeps into the people and permeates out,” Martinez said. “It’s a great fit for my family and a great fit for me.”

email: jrey@buffnews.com

Getting Around Brochure Highlights Amenities Near the BNMC

Many visit Buffalo and experience the beauty of the city and its major attractions. The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus has published an updated Getting Around Brochure featuring four of the most lively neighborhoods in the city, along with the best places to visit within each.
An array of services are listed in the brochure with itemized categories offering business names, addresses, and phone numbers. Everything from health and wellness organizations, neighborhood associations, all the way to religious organizations and night life attractions. There is also a corresponding map making it easy to find a business using the grid-style blueprint of all of the neighborhoods. The map stretches as far north as Summer Street, as far south as Huron Street, as far east as Jefferson Avenue, and as far west as Richmond Avenue.

Known for its historic and artistic character, the Allentown Historic Preservation District is a neighborhood full of life. In 1978 the neighborhood was listed as a local preservation district. Two years later in 1980, it was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. It is home to many popular festivals, home tours, eateries, entertainment hubs and more. The spine the neighborhood has in Allen Street will be the anchor for the Western Gateway, the funneling intersection connecting the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus with Allentown through Main Street.

The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus’ consortium members bring the best in clinical, research, and medical education to one place on its 120 acre campus. With more than 12,000 employees, the Medical Campus continues to add new buildings and private companies to its list of innovative organizations. Within the confines of the campus are some of the best places to grab a lunch, have a meeting behind great scenery, and stop for cocktails after business hours.

The Fruit Belt is a residential neighborhood that has a strong community infrastructure. Established in 1839, the area is named after orchards planted throughout the neighborhood by the initial residents, the Fruit Belt is an area where more residential housing and development is underway, bringing housing options to employees looking to live near their work as more jobs are created. With many of the streets paying homage to the planted fruits by name, like Cherry, Lemon, Peach, Grape, and Orange Streets, the residents proudly pass on community unity as they look to empower the local youth, revive the shopping strips, and share the benefits of city living. In the heart of the Fruit Belt are community and senior centers, and St. Johns Baptist Church.

Theaters, sports arenas, hotels, and an overabundance of restaurants and entertainment spots line the streets weaving in and out of Downtown Buffalo’s Theater District. On any given day, one can experience a great performing arts play, afterward a musical, and later have a great dinner at a nearby establishment. There are dozens of dance clubs and bars that can conclude a nice night out on the town.

Enjoy the Getting Around brochure and experience the great amenities surrounding the area. If you can’t find your business or organization in the Getting Around brochure or would like to have copies for your organization, please let us know. E-mail us at suggestions@bnmc-old.local or call 716.854.BNMC (716.854.2662).

Buffalo Niagara Enterprise Produces In-Depth Relocation Guide

The Buffalo Niagara Enterprise (BNE) has created an extensive “Where Life Works” Relocation Guide for individuals considering a move to the Buffalo-Niagara region. As growing and thriving organizations continue to create new career opportunities, attracting people from other states and countries to the area, this new resource gives the best and brightest an in-depth look at reasons to make this area the place they want to work in and call home. Features include Erie and Niagara counties, also highlighting Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming. The guide was produced with grant support from BNE investors, National Grid, and NYSEG. A hard copy and online version is available.
The guide can be used as a tool for businesses investing in the region and can also be used by local organizations to recruit employees from outside the area. The comprehensive 65-page guide provides lists of education, health care, business organizations, in addition to listing the top employers. There is a list spotlighting cultural and entertainment events that have become staples within communities.

“As part of our mission to attract business and talent to Buffalo Niagara, we showcase neighborhoods to prospects, and often, their spouses,” said Tom Kucharski, President & CEO of the BNE. “What’s been missing in this effort is a comprehensive, one-stop guide that answers common questions individuals and families have when making the decision on where to live and work.”

It serves as a Canada traveling tip resource too. Suggestions for day trips and descriptions of the area’s cities, towns and villages are included.

“We’ve really covered the gamut when it comes to pointing out the benefits of living and working in Buffalo Niagara,” Kucharski added. “Sidebars throughout the guide paint a vivid portrait of our culturally rich and geographically diverse region.”

Placing the region as a highly competitive destination to raise a family, build and enhance a career, and experience various cultures, this guide offers the pitch necessary to help people fall in love with the area.