The term “life sciences” gets thrown around a lot these days. It is even a big part of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Big 5. But what does it mean exactly? It is a concept that can be hard to understand, and sometimes quite complicated.
Life science is a multi-billion dollar industry in Kansas City, and it includes over 240 companies involved in the health of humans, animals and plants. One of these local life sciences organizations is the venerable Stowers Institute for Medical Research, which opened in 2000 with much fanfare on the site of the former Menorah Medical Center and was endowed with a jaw-dropping gift of $2 billion from the founder of American Century investments, Jim Stowers and his wife, Virginia.
Over the last decade, the Stowers Institute, located just off the Country Club Plaza, has attracted some of the world’s finest medical researchers to Kansas City to analyze our society’s most debilitating diseases and the keys to their causes. But after 13 years and such a large endowment, what kind of specific research and developments are actually taking place inside the Institute? Producer Pam James visits this center for life science research and discovery to show viewers what the Stowers Institute is all about.
