PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University and Care New England] — In November 2022, Brown University, Lifespan and Care New England signed an aligned research collaboration (ARC) agreement to streamline biomedical research across the three institutions. Now, leaders from Brown and Care New England have entered into a separate agreement to accelerate bringing together CNE’s biomedical health sciences research with Brown’s.
Under the new agreement, Brown will administer and support research at CNE in an effort to enhance efficiencies and increase research capabilities. These efforts will be executed primarily through the Office of BioMed Research Administration at Brown, which manages research activity for departments in the University’s Division of Biology and Medicine.
Dr. Mukesh K. Jain, Brown’s senior vice president for health affairs and dean of medicine and biological sciences, and Dr. Michael Wagner, CEO of Care New England, announced the new agreement in a Tuesday, March 14, letter to researchers at the two institutions.
“We believe that this agreement will have immediate benefits to Care New England’s research capability,” Jain and Wagner wrote. “This move will bolster its research infrastructure and allow both Brown and CNE to develop efficiencies that will serve the researchers of the two institutions. Together, we can expand best practices, eliminate duplication of efforts, improve investigator support and eliminate administrative burden. This enhanced collaboration will lead to stronger research and greater sharing of ideas and successes.”
Jain and Wagner emphasized that the agreement between Brown and CNE is separate from, and does not impact, the three-party ARC agreement among Brown, CNE and Lifespan. The three institutions are actively engaged in operationalizing the ARC agreement through a series of working retreats and meetings, they noted.
The purpose of the new two-party agreement is to allow biomedical research happening currently at CNE to continue to thrive and grow in this interim period before the ARC agreement is fully operationalized. CNE and Brown are currently working together to determine the operational approach to amplify current and future awards and research opportunities. They will also outline an approach to institutional review board oversight, maintaining research compliance, and how Brown and CNE cores, labs and other facilities will be used.