BIRCH was established in 2022 with a bold vision to bring together research administration and other central activities for Brown University’s Division of Biology and Medicine, Brown University Health, and Care New England. Its goals are to align the three organizations' biomedical and health sciences activities, providing the resources, support, and strategic planning that allows research growth and innovation. That entails streamlining support, improving the researcher experience, attracting patients to participate in research initiatives, and addressing barriers to growth.

Since 2022, BIRCH has made significant strides toward these goals. A new Human Research Protections Program housed at Brown University that serves all three institutions is making the process to conduct research with human participants more efficient and streamlined for researchers. Teams that care for research animals have been united under one organizational unit at Brown. Research compliance, and administration teams are working closely together, and in the coming year, new investments in technology transfer initiatives will help researchers turn their discoveries into real-world applications for patients.

The Vision for BIRCH

The Division of Biology and Medicine, Brown University Health, and Care New England continue to work toward a shared infrastructure to support our collective life sciences portfolio. We are grateful for the hard work that has helped us achieve these milestones to date and appreciate the impact this progress has had on our research program.