Is it easy to attract and retain scientific talent for biotech on Long Island? It depends on who you talk to. In some cases, companies find it relatively easy to attract researchers, and in others, the cost of living on LI and/or the perceived short-term nature of employment at biotech companies makes scientists reluctant to sign on. Ginny Llobell, former assistant and acting director at the Stony Brook Center for Biotechnology, recalls hearing an additional perspective on the issue: that while Long Island did have high taxes and a high cost of living, academics and researchers were precisely the people who would be comfortable with that, given the high salaries in the biotech industry. “That was really part of” the push to “bring biotechnology to Long Island.” People associated with the industry were thinking ” ‘there’s a lot of high paid salaries and a lot of academics and we have academia and we have [a] high cost of living on Long Island. Those would be good people to match with that.’ “
