The Schizophrenia Research Forum owes its existence to many people, not to mention a series of fortunate events. The first is the tremendous success of the Alzheimer Research Forum website in helping create a virtual research community and in accelerating the progress in the neurodegenerative disease field.

In 2003, after writing for several years for the "Alzforum," Hakon Heimer was interested in building a similar community for research into schizophrenia—a disease affecting one of his siblings. Alzforum founder and editor June Kinoshita generously offered the technical assistance of the Alzheimer Research Forum to help develop such a site.

A number of researchers helped at the outset to raise support and funding, and we owe special thanks to Patricia Goldman-Rakic, Carol Tamminga, and Daniel Weinberger. With their help, a partnership was formed with NARSAD, the Mental Health Research Association. NARSAD helped the Schizophrenia Research Forum team secure a three-year contract with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to support the website's development and first years of operation. NARSAD is also providing resources and development assistance during the initial, critical phase of its development. The site represents an exciting and nontraditional approach for NARSAD as it seeks to accelerate the progress of neuroscientific research. The SRF also forms part of NIMH's vision of promoting partnerships within the research community. We are deeply grateful to the people at NARSAD, whose help has been invaluable, and to NIMH for seeing the value of this project.

The SRF project team, NARSAD, and NIMH have collaborated to create a website with editorial independence, dedicated to researchers, and open, free of charge, to all users. A diverse Scientific Advisory Board provides guidance on the website's content and policies. Within the period of the three-year NIMH contract, SRF will become an independent entity—a reliable and flexible resource of lasting value to the community of researchers studying schizophrenia and related disorders.

The long-term success of the website will depend on the intellectual contributions of the research community, as well as financial donations from individuals and grants from foundations and public and private institutions. For information on how to support SRF, please see Support Us.