The college’s new program will train Wisconsin’s personalized medicine workforce
MATC's boom in biohealth
MATC's push into Wisconsin's medical field
MATC is a perfect partner for Wisconsin’s push into personalized medicine. The rapidly growing field tailors tests, treatments and therapies to patients by using their unique genetic code, medical records and environment. Thanks to federal funding, the state is creating a biohealth tech hub to advance personalized medicine. And MATC will play a pivotal role in the tech hub by training highly skilled professionals to work with these cutting-edge technologies. With nearly $4 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, the college established a Biotechnology Laboratory Technician program, designed to equip students with the foundational knowledge and practical skills necessary to pursue biotechnology careers. In the program, slated to begin in January 2026, students will explore molecular biology, genetics, microbiology, bioinformatics, bioprocessing, sequencing and cell culture techniques. “The jobs that will be available are mostly work in research labs, in efforts to cure cancer and improve cancer screenings,” Dr. Michael Jenkins, dean of the college’s STEM Academic and Career Pathway, said in April. The college also is renovating several classrooms in the Main Building of the Downtown Milwaukee Campus into space specifically for the new program. The MATC District Board approved the new program and building renovations in the spring, and board directors were excited about the potential of the program. “Every kind of cancer has been involved in biologic therapies, as well as arthritis and diabetes. The more technicians we have the better results we get,” said board director Dr. Waleed Najeeb, medical director and CEO of the Medpoint Clinics and vice president of medical affairs of the Independent Physicians Network. “I’m sure these positions will be in high demand.” “I think this is very cool. It’s all about finding your niche,” said Gale Pence, district board treasurer and an MATC alumnus with more than 20 years of experience as a tool and die manufacturer and business owner. “I also believe this can bring us regional enrollment since we are one of the few technical colleges doing this.” Wisconsin’s biohealth tech hub is being created with $49 million in federal funding awarded in 2024. MATC is part of a consortium formed to help land and now implement the state’s biohealth tech hub.
The group consists of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, BioForward Wisconsin, Exact Sciences Corporation, Accuray, Plexus, GE HealthCare, Rockwell Automation, WRTP Big Step, Employ Milwaukee, Madison Area Technical College, the University of Wisconsin System Administration, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Madison Regional Economic Partnership and Milwaukee7. MATC personnel working with the consortium include STEM instructors Dr. Sheldon Garrison, Dr. Christine Ryan, Dr. Lisa Conley, Marie Colmerauer, Dr. Edward “Jim” Kerschen and Scott Schlipp. Dr. Garrison said that along with creating the Biotechnology Laboratory Technician program, MATC wants to produce more graduates in the CNC, Radiography and Electronic Engineering Technology programs to help the biohealth tech hub. The college plans to recruit and attract more students into these programs, provide additional resources to retain students, increase community awareness of the programs, expand facilities and modernize equipment, Dr. Garrison said. In 2024, there were 134 graduates from the three programs currently operating. MATC wants to grow that to 244 across the four programs each year and to nearly 1,000 graduates during the 10-year life of the federal grant funding, Dr. Garrison said. “These are ambitious projects. We have formed quite a few relationships. It’s important to emphasize the collaborative nature of these projects, which span the entire innovation lifecycle, from idea generation to market deployment,” Dr. Garrison said. He added, “I believe MATC is critical to the success of the state’s biohealth endeavors. We’re doing things in that space that are making a real impact.” Wisconsin’s biohealth industry is large and prosperous, according to a 2022 report compiled by BioForward Wisconsin, the group leading the creation of the biohealth tech hub. The state’s biohealth sector employed nearly 130,000 workers in 2022, the report said. Of those, 52,000 — 15,000 in the Milwaukee region — earned an average annual salary of $96,000, 70% higher than the state’s private sector average, the report said. Plus, the next generation of jobs in the industry hasn’t even been developed yet, said Dr. Conley, an MATC instructor for 19 years. “No one really knows what could be down the road,” she said. “There will be opportunities in the future that we don’t have right now. The possibilities for growth and impact are very exciting. We need to be prepared for that.”
