ABOUT BREFSA
OUR MISSION
The Biomedical Research and Education Foundation of Southern Arizona is a non-profit corporation established to facilitate and support the medical research and educational mission of the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System (SAVAHCS).
BREFSA’s research mission is to promote biomedical and health service research for the benefit of Veteran patients. This goal is achieved by utilizing its resources to assist current and potential SAVAHCS investigators and educators as well as facilitate research administration, human subject protection, compliance, and training.
WHY BREFSA
VA Non-Profit Corporations (NPCs) exist to provide VA medical centers with flexible funding mechanisms to support research activities. While some VA research is directly funded by the VA Office of Research and Development (ORD), research that is funded through any other agency or entity must be routed through an external intermediary to reimburse the medical center when necessary, and to pay for equipment and staff. BREFSA and other VA NPCs serve in this capacity, allowing funds to be available to VA researchers from non-VA grants and from industry sponsors, such as pharmaceutical companies running clinical trials for new drugs.
BREFSA funds are critical to supporting VA research. NPCs are not owned or controlled by the Federal government, nor are they an agency or instrumentality of the Federal government. As such, NPCs do not receive any Federal support and they rely solely upon the availability of research contracts with industry sponsors as well as financial support through private donations. Without BREFSA, VA researchers at SAVAHCS would be unable to pay for their research staff, purchase equipment, attend research training events, and ultimately, would be unable to participate in new medical innovations that improve the care of our nation’s Veterans.
LOCATION
BREFSA is located in Tucson, Arizona, and is housed on the campus of the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System (SAVAHCS).
3601 S. 6th Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85723
