The benefits and challenges of research centers and institutes in academic medicine: findings from six universities and their medical schools

Abstract

Purpose: To understand the benefits and challenges of using centers and institutes in the academic research enterprise, and to explore institutional strategies that capitalize on the strengths and ameliorate the weaknesses of the center/institute structure.

Method: Using a qualitative research design, the author and associates interviewed over 150 faculty members and administrators at six medical schools and their parent universities in 2004. Interview data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. This methodology generated rich descriptions and explanations of the six institutions, which can produce extrapolations to, but not necessarily findings that are generalizable to, other institutions and settings.

Results: Centers and institutes offer a number of benefits to academic institutions. Centers can aid in faculty recruitment and retention, facilitate collaboration in research, secure research resources, offer a sense of community and promote continued learning, afford organizational flexibility, and focus on societal problems and raise funds. Despite their many benefits, centers can also create tensions and present management challenges to institutional leaders. Centers can compete with departments over resources, complicate faculty recruitment, contribute to a fragmented mission, resist effective evaluation, pose governance problems, and impede junior faculty development.

Conclusions: Institutional leaders might capitalize on the strengths of centers through three strategies: (1) reward leaders who embrace a collaborative point of view and develop a culture that frowns upon empire building; (2) distinguish among the many entities that share the "center" or "institute" labels; and (3) acknowledge that departments must maintain their place in the organizational milieu.