University of Arizona College of Medicine, Office of the Dean, University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, 1501 N, Campbell Avenue, Room 2205, Tucson, Arizona, 85724, USA. kjoiner@email.arizona.edu.
Translational research conducted in academic health centers is confounded by the organizational structure in which the work is performed. Investigators must obtain research funding and appropriate recognition as a part of a research team in a not-for-profit environment which has more readily rewarded basic work, and individual accomplishments. What results is a unique form of conflict of interest, best understood by relating the basic principles underlying the not-for-profit form to the conduct of translational research in the AHC setting.