Question 1

How can I have confidence that a collaborative network like the MBRC will be successful?

Accepted Answer

The MBRC is designed by members and founders of a sister initiative, the Exposure Therapy Consortium (ETC). With a similar structure, the ETC quickly grew to encompass over 125 members representing over 20 institutions. By the time the second study was proposed within the ETC, 16 sites across the world signed on to run the study within a 3-week bid period. The result is that this study is likely to be the largest exposure therapy mechanistic trial for anxiety ever conducted, while also providing the immediate strengths of cross-site and split sample replication of all findings. In sum, we have good evidence that programs like the ETC and MBRC can provide a dramatically successful research strategy for its collaborators and mechanistic science.

Question 2

I am a junior faculty member at a medical center with a 80:20 clinical: research appointment. How might membership in the MBRC serve me?

Accepted Answer

Collaborative projects facilitated by the MBRC are an excellent way for junior faculty at medical centers to get involved in larger-scale projects. The strategy of collaborations among a large number of sites (each making a relatively small contribution in terms of the number of research participants) allows junior faculty to make use of their local clinic-patient flow to answer important clinical questions about mechanisms of change. In addition, this research collaboration will put you in collaborative contact with researchers with similar interests across the world, and the joint publication will allow you to meet the research requirements of your institution within the context of your mixed clinical and research appointment

Question 3

I am currently over-busy with my research agenda, what am I committing to by joining MBRC now?

Accepted Answer

Joining MBRC simply means that you have signed a memorandum of understanding to receive group emails and to participate in shared research at some point, when and if an MBRC project fits your broader research agenda.

Question 4

I am a relatively senior investigator at an R1 institution. I rely on grant funding for most of the projects I do; how does MBRC engagement fit in with my larger portfolio?

Accepted Answer

How would you like to skip the challenging process of R21/R33 funding in order to pursue some of your more novel research questions?  MBRC collaboration is an excellent way to pilot (at lower effort) new research ideas that are not ready for an R01 application. In addition, members of your MBRC collaborative network may also serve as sites with demonstrated feasibility of collaboration for the subsequent R01 application.

Question 5

I teach and conduct research (typically focusing on undergraduate student samples) at a university but don’t have direct access to patient samples; how can I engage with the MBRC?

Accepted Answer

Some research questions, including investigations of mechanism measures and their correlates or studies of emerging health behaviors appropriate to college-aged samples, may be ideal for the samples you can study. The ability to offer class credit for participation provides an ideal way to conduct low- or no-cost research across a range of institutions like yours.

Question 6

My subfield of behavioral medicine (cancer care) already has some longstanding research networks, how might MBRC interfere with my engagement with these existing networks?

Accepted Answer

MBRC is not meant to replace any disorder-specific network, but instead to offer collaborative options when the research target is health behavior change as studied from an experimental medicine (mechanistic science) perspective. We understand that this research target may or may not fit well within other existing collaborative networks; MBRC is here to serve research when other extant networks are not available or appropriate for the investigations being proposed.