Business Planning: HIV Forum Case Study
The Forum for Collaborative HIV Research www.hivforum.org is an independent public-private partnership at the School of Public Health and Health Services, The George Washington University in Washington, DC that facilitates and enhances HIV research by framing issues and helping to establish research strategy. Its members include governmental agencies such as NIH and FDA, private industry including big pharma and biotech, academic researchers from leading institutions, providers, foundations and the advocacy community. The Forum is the only organization that regularly brings together such a wide spectrum of participants for open, collaborative discussion in a neutral setting.
The Forum has been instrumental in moving the field forward. It has led the way in defining research programs for therapeutic vaccines, metabolic abnormalities, salvage therapy, and others.
With its initial 5-year funding mandate coming up for renewal, the Forum needed a business plan to serve as the basis for its funding request and to organize its programs for the future. During 2003, MedPharma’s David Williams led the effort to objectively document the Forum’s value to its varied constituencies, demonstrate the Forum’s uniqueness, develop a five-year financial plan, and lay out a compelling argument for continued funding in an environment of tightening budgets. MedPharma Partners activities included interviewing Executive Committee members, analyzing the results of past projects, benchmarking other HIV-related organizations and public private partnerships, financial planning, and writing.
In 2004, MedPharma Partners is continuing in an advisory role to help the Forum implement its plan and recruit new members.
"David’s expertise in business planning and extensive experience with small and large businesses have been a great asset to an organization like the Forum with its many different members. His ability to explain the value of the Forum to a broad audience in simple terms proved to be invaluable." –Veronica Miller, Executive Director
