The Health Research Alliance's roots can be traced to 1998, when a group of private funders convened at a meeting jointly organized by the American Cancer Society, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The meeting, "Strengthening Health Research in America: Philanthropy's Role,"* considered the future of biomedical research in light of major changes in funding streams for research within academic health centers. The group met again in 2000 and 2002 to consider the role of private funders in training the next generation of biomedical scientists, and to share best practices with respect to basic operational processes, such as electronic grantmaking.
A subset of this initial group, consisting of a mix of private foundations and voluntary health agencies, began to meet periodically, informally calling itself the Clinical Research Alliance (CRA). Over the years, the CRA contributed to several developments in health research:
- The CRA assembled data demonstrating a doubling of the private, non-profit sector's combined contribution to the career development of clinical investigators during the period 1997-2001. For more information, download this.
- Several CRA members piloted award programs for clinical investigators that included repayment of educational loans, and encouraged other funders to do likewise. For more information, download The Biomedical Research Bottleneck and Clinical Research and the NIH.
- Several CRA members** cosponsored a national meeting, "Partnering to Advance Health Research: Philanthropy's Role," in 2004. Attended by representatives of over 70 biomedical research foundations and voluntary health agencies, the meeting focused on building partnerships among like-minded nongovernmental funders as well as governmental funders and for-profit entities. The meeting agenda was built around the concept of the two "translational blocks" that affect the speed and probability of translating basic biomedical science discoveries into applications that improve health. For more information, download Central Challenges Facing the National Clinical Research Enterprise.
The positive response to the 2004 meeting underscored the need for nongovernmental funders of health research to forge collaborations around common interests and to share best practices. With the consensus of its members, the Clinical Research Alliance became the Health Research Alliance in 2005, reflecting the group's concern for research that leads to better health.
With infrastructure support and leadership provided by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, representatives from member organizations lead the Alliance's working groups and are now supported by the Alliance's first staff member. A new health research awards database is under development, and a national conference, "Building Strategic Partnerships to Advance Health Research," was held in Washington, D.C. in May, 2006. The Health Research Alliance was incorporated in November, 2005, and has received an advance ruling letter from the IRS that it is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code as a 509(a)(2) public charity. Officers and members of the initial Alliance Board of Directors are noted on the Advisory Committee page (under the "About HRA" tab).
* For more information on "Strengthening Health Research in America: Philanthropy's Role," please contact HRA.
** "Partnering to Advance Health Research: Philanthropy's Role" was planned by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the American Heart Association, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Arthritis Foundation, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the American Cancer Society.
