New perspectives in clinical research: the Women's Cancer Research Foundation's experience.

The number of physicians involved in clinical research continues to decline. Financial and administrative barriers appear to be primarily responsible, although inadequate community-based infrastructure has also contributed significantly to this troubling phenomenon. Therefore, novel physician-friendly research models amenable to conducting efficient clinical research are necessary. The physicians from the Women's Cancer Research Foundation have developed such a paradigm over the past 23 years, which has proven to increase research productivity above and beyond the traditional academic model.