MERI research drawing a crowd

Training center expected to create $47 million impact

Memphis Business Journal
February 6, 2008
By Toby Sells

Medical Education and Research Institute could have a $47.6 million economic impact on Memphis by 2011, according to a University of Memphis study.

That study, conducted by renowned health care economist Cyril Chang, said the non-profit medical training organization brought in $6.5 million in training and space fees alone in fiscal 2006, but had a $22.4 million impact on the economy of the Memphis MSA. That number comes from the 8,596 visitors -- doctors, researchers, their families and donor families -- who came from 70 companies, schools or associations that did research at MERI in that year. They brought their wallets and spent about $11.8 million while they were here.

MERI sits quietly in a modest building on Cleveland right off Union. To most Memphians, it's not even a blip on their radar, but to medical device companies it's a known hot spot for one-of-a-kind training and research.

Larry Foster has convinced his company of that. TranS1, Inc., a spinal device business, is based in Wilmington, N.C. But Foster, the director of professional education, is here mainly because of MERI. He became familiar with the facility during his seven years with Smith & Nephew, Inc.

"One reason I was able to stay here is because I was able to leverage the MERI and I had built a training strategy around their facility," he says.

He's brought in about 100 surgeons or sales personnel to Memphis and MERI over the past 12 months. He says the organization is known in the industry for its apt and educated staff and training space where you "don't feel like you're in a cadaver lab but in a professional teaching institution."

Diana Kelly, MERI's manager of institutional development, says current numbers have, of course, outpaced Chang's 2006 figures. Companies paid MERI about $8 million last year and that volume continues to increase.

"For the most part people come here for cadaver-based training," Kelly says. "A lot of people hear about us through word of mouth. They either work for one of the medical device companies or left them for a start-up. Over the years, we've grown a reputation in the market and in the industry."

Kelly says most of MERI's clients are medical device companies looking to either test their products or teach others how to use them once they're approved. She says the initiation of minimally invasive surgery amped up activity at MERI as more surgeons needed the hands-on training MERI can provide.

"Changes started coming so quickly to the industry that surgeons were constantly having to upgrade their skill sets," she says. "So, they came to us."

Foster says the minimally invasive surgery required to implant TranS1's (NASDAQ: TSON) lumbar fusion device is what sets it apart from competitors like Medtronic, Inc.

"These kinds of surgeries are really what has set the MERI apart because they have exploded in the past few years," Foster says. "The need for the MERI has become really important as we need to show these surgeons how to do these techniques."

Kelly says MERI brought in 5,300 physicians from all 50 states and 47 countries last year, a number well above its record. That strength shows MERI's importance to the medical device industry. But Kelly says that exposure to Memphis could help the growing biotech sector here.

"We have one of the largest training facilities in the world here and are in a good location with FedEx and an airport hub," she says. "We have an impact on these companies to think about making Memphis a place to bring your headquarters."

Medical Education and Research Institute

Non-profit medical training and research facility
Executive director: Elizabeth Ostric
Address: 44 S. Cleveland
Phone: (901) 722-8001
Web site: www.meri.org

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