Deal breaks ground for new Georgia BioScience Training Center

ATLANTA, March 31 — Gov. Nathan Deal today broke ground for the Georgia BioScience Training Center, which will support training for Baxter International Inc. employees and for new companies in the life sciences industry that choose to locate in Georgia. The training center is located east of Atlanta across from Baxter's $1 billion biomanufacturing plant. 'This training facility represents not only our commitment to supporting Baxter's needs, but also our commitment to growing the life sciences industry in Georgia,' said Deal. 'It's projects like these that have made, and will continue to make, Georgia the No. 1 state in the nation in which to do business.' At the groundbreaking, Deal was joined by Department of Economic Development Commissioner Chris Carr, Technical College System of Georgia Commissioner Ron Jackson and Vice President and Program Executive of Baxter International Brien Johnson. 'This Georgia BioScience Training Center will give us one of the most effective tools we can have in economic development to recruit more life science and health IT companies to Georgia,' said Carr. 'The facility is designated solely to providing customized workforce training as an incentive to attract new biotech jobs to Georgia.' The Georgia BioScience Training Center was designed by Cooper Carry and will be built by the Whiting-Turner construction company. Georgia Quick Start, a division within the Technical College System of Georgia, will operate the 52,000-square-foot facility. At the training center, Georgia Quick Start will provide customized workforce training for Baxter. 'Preparing the workforce for the sophisticated, biological manufacturing processes involved in producing today's therapies is a great challenge,' said Jackson. 'These treatments save and benefit the lives of patients every day, and the training delivered at this center will support Baxter's overall ability to serve patients.'