Join HCSRN Thursday, April 23 for Funding Focused Programming

Plenary 3

Strategies for Collaboration: Supporting Innovative Research with Foundation Partners

Meeting Room Location/Time: Austin Ballroom 8:00 AM - 9:15 AM

While federal research funding remains essential, foundation leaders recognize that it often leaves crucial gaps—especially in early-stage, cross-disciplinary, and community-focused work. Foundations are stepping forward by collaborating closely with scientists to advance mission-aligned research that drives innovation and societal impact.

From the foundation perspective, these partnerships are not just about grants—they’re about co-creating solutions, supporting data infrastructure, and fostering long-term relationships that translate discovery into action.

In this session, foundation officers will reflect on what makes these collaborations successful. They will:

• Examine how foundations identify unmet needs in the scientific landscape and use funding to catalyze new research directions
• Provide guidance on cultivating collaborative relationships—from early conversations to co-designing proposals that reflect a foundation’s mission and community commitments
• Describe how foundations assess partnership potential, support research beyond the grant period, and evaluate downstream impact on policy, practice, and communities

Session 2

Industry Sponsors and Learning Health Systems: Advancing Research Through Strategic Collaboration 

Meeting Room Location/Time: Austin Ballroom 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM

Alternatives to federally funded research are becoming increasingly important. Industry sponsors are identifying gaps in learning health systems research—particularly in early-stage, cross-disciplinary, and implementation-focused studies. To address these gaps, industry sponsors partner with health systems, researchers, and community stakeholders to support data-driven research that advances care delivery and improves patient outcomes.

These collaborations go beyond funding alone. Industry sponsors work to co-develop research strategies, enable advanced data infrastructure, and cultivate long-term partnerships that translate insights into actionable health interventions.

In this session, leaders in Industry–LHS collaborations will explore what makes these partnerships successful. They will:

• Discuss how companies scan the innovation pipeline, define research priorities, and use funding to accelerate  Learning Health System (LHS) discovery and implementation
• Offer practical approaches for designing proposals that balance industry goals with the realities, constraints, and strategic priorities of health systems
• Share how industry assesses partnership readiness, ensures scientific and operational feasibility, and evaluates the impact of LHS research on care delivery, product development, and patient outcomes