Pathways and barriers to developing pediatric research consortia

Abstract

In many countries pediatric radiology is responsible for imaging of patients ranging from premature babies to 19-year-olds, thus meaning a weight range from less than 500 g to sometimes much more than 100 kg. Children are not small adults and many differences exist when comparing them to adults. Therefore pediatric radiologists face a 4-D problem: the three dimensions in space as well as time, which can be summarized as maturation. Due to this multidimensionality experience exchange, knowledge transfer and teamwork is mandatory. Research consortia represent a useful approach. According the author's experience in setting up and running international, inter-institutional academic networks, this article describes pathways and barriers of such cooperations, which can be divided into external (institutional), internal (departmental) and organizational and by the research fellows themselves.