Building a Better Center for Biotechnology Students’ Success

Published April 15, 2025

Jim Coker cares.

As the proud Director of the Center for Biotechnology Education in Johns Hopkins University’s Advanced Academic Programs division, Coker cares deeply about championing the field of biotechnology. He cares about making this important field of study accessible. Most especially, he cares about turning out graduates who themselves care deeply about the greater good and have confidence in their abilities to make transformational impact in the field.

“I like to think that people do things for good reasons, and for biotech students in particular, I like to think it is because they have altruistic motives. They want to help society and humanity,” he said. “Yes, the job pays well. A good-paying job and a comfortable life often result from a good education. But biotechnology is so much more far-reaching. You can lengthen someone’s life, cure their disease, and affect tens to hundreds of millions of people in a positive way. All because you helped develop medicines and therapies that can impact the way people live, or even if they will live. There is such a good end-product in biotechnology, and I think it lands a little differently if the focus of a company’s personnel is to develop a therapy that is going to save someone’s life and not just make money.”

The Center launched at JHU in 2010, and Coker assumed his leadership role four years ago with a passion for teaching and a goal of democratizing education to give students the best learning experience and the best chance at job success.

Under One Umbrella

In order to support student success, Coker prioritized the creation of three pillars within the Center that aligned curricula and student outcome objectives. The biotechnology division houses the MS in Biotechnology program, which can also be paired with the MBA from the Carey Business School as a Dual Degree program, and the MS in Regenerative and Stem Cell Technologies program. The business and regulatory pillar has the MS in Regulatory Science program and the MS in Biotechnology Enterprise and Entrepreneurship program. The third pillar focuses on computational biology and includes the MS in Bioinformatics program and the MS in Individualized Genomics and Health program.

“Creating these pillars allows us to better highlight the different degrees and the quality of the programs that we offer,” said Coker. A recent program review validated this approach based on the endorsement of peer reviewers from Northeastern University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Northwestern University.

Distinguished, Diverse Faculty

Coker’s concerted efforts to attract quality and diverse faculty, including program alumni, have also contributed to the program’s growth and impact.

“We have faculty that range in age from their mid-twenties to their seventies and who collectively bring hundreds of years of experience in industry,” said Coker, who also continues to teach genomics and precision medicine as part of this renowned faculty.

“It also helps students who may have grown up and not seen anybody who looks like them doing certain jobs. To see somebody teaching – who looks like you – is very powerful. It is really important to have faculty who are varied and broad so that everyone can see themselves there. If going into this field is something that they want to do, they must see that they can do it.”

Shifting Demographics

Since Coker’s arrival, student demographics have also shifted. The programs are attracting far more younger students, seeing a huge uptick in full-time international students, and creating a resurgence of more on-campus courses.

“My class, among others, is now offered in-person during the middle of the day on the Homewood campus,” he said. “Of course, we will always need to offer our programs through an online platform as well, but we have been successful in meeting the challenges of providing for on-site learning, and I think we will continue to be successful.”

In-Demand Training

In addition to monitoring the growth and success of the academic programs, the Center for Biotechnology Education also exists to facilitate in-demand trainings for government agencies, private companies, and even international entities who have a need to fill knowledge gaps within their own workforces. Coker points to two disciplines the Center can assist through training – computational biology and regulatory science.

“There is a large need for bioinformatics in the biotech sphere,” Coker said. “You can have hundreds of thousands or a million bits of data emerging from one experiment. The human brain cannot process this much information, so you really need to have some kind of computational biology or computer science background. Our Center can provide the training for people who will be filling these roles in their companies. Additionally, every company needs a regulatory team and compliance officers who ensure that the company is doing everything it must to produce the best quality product. Our Center is ready to address this regulatory training need.”

Coker noted that the Center is also in the development stage of creating online professional microcredentials in regulatory science – microtargeted, focused, skill-building modules that students can complete in two to three weeks.

Job-Ready Success

The teaching and educating possibilities are limitless, which is how Coker likes it.

“Teaching people excites me more than anything else. How do I make sure that we get education to more people than have it now? I have always cared about education and have tried to be a pioneer and a flag planter,” he said. “I am proud to stand behind our emphasis on ‘working degrees’ that ensure students are learning all the skills necessary to be successful in biotech jobs.

“My goal, and the goal of Johns Hopkins, is to produce students who are ready for success from day one, who when they show up on their first day at their desk or lab bench and their supervisor says, ‘This what I need you to do,’ can reply, ‘I’m ready, and I care.’ We want nothing more than for this scenario to play itself out over and over and over again.”

Is an impactful career in biotechnology in your future? Learn more about how the JHU Center for Biotechnology Education can support your training and equip you for job readiness and success.