From Harry T. Lester, President of Eastern Virginia Medical School, in the Winter 2010 EVMS Magazine:
EVMS is proud to be located in a military town. Home to the world’s largest Navy base, our city and our region have benefited from the military’s strong local presence. According to economists, direct and indirect defense spending accounts for nearly half of the local economic activity.
While that investment does immeasurable good for this area, economists say being so reliant on one sector leaves Hampton Roads vulnerable should defense priorities shift. The relocation of just one aircraft carrier — as has been proposed — could take with it thousands of jobs and leave a nearly $1 billion hole in this region’s economy.
Building a more diverse business infrastructure is the key to plugging the hole, and EVMS is primed to be a part of that effort (see excerpts below). Just look at our involvement in the burgeoning field of modeling and simulation (see page 18 of EVMS Magazine Winter10), one of the other business sectors identified as a regional strength. EVMS is developing new tools that help up-and-coming health care providers learn their craft and keep current practitioners sharp.
Our founders understood 36 years ago that a thriving academic medical center is a crucial element of a strong economy, and the same holds true today. The school employs more than 1,100 people, attracts millions in grant funding and cares for tens of thousands of patients each year.
It gives me great pride to know that Eastern Virginia Medical School contributes to the region’s health in ways that extend far beyond the doctor’s office and to know that we are working to make an even greater impact on the regional economy.
Excerpts from the EVMS article,
Filling the Gap: Could EVMS keep Hampton Roads economy afloat?
Defense spending reigns as the economic super power in Hampton Roads. The sector accounts for a wide swath of the region’s economic activity, fueling tens of thousands of local jobs. But that spending leaves it vulnerable.
The percentage of Hampton Roads’ economy related to the military stood at about 20% in the 1980s. That figure bloomed over the intervening quarter century, tallying roughly 50% of the region’s business today. The relationship served as a buffer when the economy crashed in late 2007 and sent the private sector reeling, but that reliance could quickly become a liability.
“That puts us, regionally, in a thoroughly exposed position because either defense spending could decline, or maybe taper off a bit, or there could be a change in the mix of defense spending so that the Department of Defense would spend more money on things that don’t involve Hampton Roads,“ says James V. Koch, PhD, economics professor and president emeritus at Old Dominion University.
The region got a taste of that possibility recently when the Navy opened discussions about relocating to Florida one of the aircraft carriers based in Norfolk. Community, business and political leaders from throughout the region decried the idea. Such a move would also send away thousands of jobs and up to $1 billion in economic activity, according to published estimates.
“The question arises,” Dr. Koch says, “‘What can we do about that?’” EVMS is a natural answer, he says.
“It would be nice to think that we’re going to attract the next Microsoft to Hampton Roads, but it’s not very likely,” he says. “The wisest thing for us to do is attempt to capitalize on distinctive assets that we already have,” he says. “We’re not starting from ground zero.”
According to Dana Dickens of the Hampton Roads Partnership, modeling and simulation has already been a big boost to EVMS and the community.
“That has been a huge economic boon to Hampton Roads, and EVMS has really embraced that industry,” he says. “They have taken that technology from the defense sector and merged it into the private medical sector. That’s one of our goals — to take Department of Defense technology and move it to other areas.”
