A seed money grant program for family medicine research.

It appears that the seed money allocation process instituted by the University of Washington Department of Family Medicine one year ago has facilitated the launching of several pilot studies by removing small but significant financial barriers. Expressions of concern about the equitable allocation of departmental resources for research have abated, and energies have focused increasingly on how to do research and less on how to fund it. The funds and in-kind resources allocated have helped promote collaboration between community practitioners and academic researchers. The seed money program has assisted relatively inexperienced researchers to obtain valuable research experience which will make future applications for external grant support more credible and competitive.