Forging alliances to meet future research and training needs

There are countless challenges in meeting the future needs of the biomedical research community. In an era of flattened research budgets, the overarching concern has become how more can be done with less. One approach, still novel for the biomedical research community but proven successful for the commercial sector, is the establishment of strategic alliances. Among federal entities, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Office of Research on Minority Health (ORMH) have as their goal the improvement of the health of the nation's minorities through support for alliances between academic research institutions. These partnerships serve to maximize an institution's opportunity for success, especially with regard to research and training. There are many different opportunities for institutions to establish partnerships, especially among minority institutions, and between minority and majority institutions. Features of successful alliances are described, working partnership models identified, and other opportunities explored.