David Osborn will be based here and will have responsibility for strategic development of the Nashville Medical Trade Center, which Market Center Management hopes to open as early as next year. Osborn was executive director of the Health Care Solutions Group, a public policy organization created by Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Nashville Health Care Council. That group ended operations last month.
Osborn's hiring comes as Market Center Management explores potential sites for what could eventually become 1.5 million square feet of year-round space to showcase medical gadgets and health-care technology.
The trade outpost also could host seminars, medical conventions and serve as a site for continuing education programs.
Leasing the current Nashville Convention Center site downtown is among long-term possibilities for a site, especially after a new Music City convention hall is built south of Broadway.
As a consultant, Osborn will work with Nashville health-care and community leaders to develop a vision for the medical trade center and encourage companies to showcase products for the industry there.
"The goal is to bring value to the health-care industry," Osborn said. "Purchasers would be able to come to one place, see all of the products, services and emerging technologies they need, and be able to make a much more informed decision about purchasing without having to travel to multiple places."
The Health Care Solutions Group closed three years after it started. Projects undertaken included a Web site developed during last year's presidential elections to educate the public about health-care issues.
"It was a business decision that reflects the times we're in and Vanderbilt's need to use its resources on priority items closest to home," Osborn said of the think tank's closure.
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