About

History

SYNERGY was established to strengthen and coordinate clinical and translational research across Dartmouth Health and Dartmouth College. Today, it is a nationally recognized program supporting discovery and real-world impact through the NIH CTSA.

SYNERGY’s origins trace back to the vision and leadership of Dr. Alan I. Green, Chair of Psychiatry at Dartmouth and an early champion of creating a more integrated and collaborative environment for clinical and translational research.

Dr. Green recognized that Dartmouth’s investigators needed a centralized structure that could bring together the institution’s clinical expertise, academic strengths, and community partnerships to accelerate the pace and impact of scientific discovery. His advocacy led to the development of an interdisciplinary framework that would eventually become SYNERGY—a program designed to support researchers across the full continuum of translational science.

Alan I. Green, MD | 1943-2020

Building upon Dr. Green’s foundational work, SYNERGY was formally established to strengthen the research ecosystem across Dartmouth Health and Dartmouth College. In its early years, the program focused on creating a cohesive infrastructure that aligned research processes across campuses, provided consistent governance, and expanded access to methodological, regulatory, and analytic expertise. These formative efforts enabled investigators to more efficiently design and conduct high-quality studies, while also fostering collaboration across disciplines and departments.

As the program evolved, SYNERGY expanded its support mechanisms, launching coordinated workforce development initiatives, enhancing its biostatistics and analytics capacity, developing community-engaged research programs, and establishing pilot award mechanisms that encouraged innovation and early-stage translational work. The program’s growth reflected the increasing complexity of clinical and translational research as well as Dartmouth’s institutional commitment to improving health through rigorous, collaborative science.

A major milestone in SYNERGY’s trajectory occurred in July 2024, when the program was competitively renewed under the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) mechanism. This renewal affirmed SYNERGY’s scientific contributions and operational excellence, recognized its role within the national CTSA consortium, and positioned the program to deepen its efforts in data and informatics integration, evaluation and continuous improvement, and regional and community partnerships. The 2024 renewal further strengthened SYNERGY’s ability to support investigators through expanded educational pathways, enhanced research infrastructure, and new opportunities for collaboration across the Dartmouth enterprise.

Today, SYNERGY remains a central resource for investigators across Dartmouth Health and Dartmouth College, advancing research from initial discovery to implementation and dissemination. Guided by the foundational vision of Dr. Green and sustained by strong institutional support, SYNERGY continues to refine its programs, strengthen its partnerships, and drive innovation in clinical and translational science.