Two UNE employees present at Maine Startup and Create Week

The University of New England’s Barry Costa-Pierce, Ph.D., director of the Marine Science Center, and Megan Landry, B.S.N., M.H.A., program manager for the graduate programs in Health Informatics in the College of Graduate and Professional Studies, gave presentations at Maine Startup and Create Week 2016.

Costa-Pierce was part of a panel discussion titled, “Seatech: True Blue Ocean Strategy,” that focused on the potential for business innovation in the fisheries, ocean farming and marine technology. Costa-Pierce engaged panelists and audience members in passionate dialogue about the need for education about ocean food ecosystems and sustainable fishing, citing the statistic that global food production will need to increase by 70 percent by 2050 in order to feed the population. “We can’t continue on this pathway thinking we can get all of our foods from the terrestrial sphere,” he said. “We have a moral and ethical responsibility to farm our own food from the ocean.” He explained that UNE’s Marine Entrepreneurship program was created in order to prepare students to combine that education with the business skills to pursue jobs in the growing marine economy.

Megan Landry presented as part of a panel titled, “Big Data Case Study: Healthcare” that focused on how big data can transform health care companies and result in lower costs, disease prevention and personalized care. Landry showcased her passion for health and healthcare improvement, which is a direct result of her work in emergency nursing and clinical informatics. She believes that at the heart of all care is a need for well-designed technology and processes that are designed for the entire care team – which includes the patient and their support system. Bringing the topics of consumer informatics, patient engagement, health disruption and innovation to her students around the world is critical to Landry’s work at UNE. “I believe that quality technological tools and processes can impact healthcare outcomes across the globe, and I’m proud that UNE is a national leader in this effort” she said.