---
id: "question-mission-fidelity"
type: "open-question"
source_timestamps: ["§ How to Accelerate Innovation"]
tags: ["ethics", "institutional-mission"]
related: ["concept-amc-innovators-dilemma", "concept-traditional-amc-model", "concept-amc-strategic-financing"]
resolutionPath: "Longitudinal studies on AMCs that have adopted VC-style funding to see whether educational outcomes, basic-science research volume, or patient-care quality are negatively impacted by the shift toward commercialization."
sources: ["tail2"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail2"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-tail-131-medical-drug-discovery"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/04/u-s-medical-centers-need-a-new-model-for-drug-discovery-and-development"
sourceTitle: "U.S. Medical Centers Need a New Model for Drug Discovery and Development"
---
# Balancing Commercialization with the Tripartite Mission

The authors state that AMCs must experiment with new structures **"while maintaining fidelity to their tripartite mission"** (education, research, patient care — see [[concept-traditional-amc-model]]). But acting more like pharmaceutical companies and venture capitalists ([[concept-amc-strategic-financing]], [[contrarian-amcs-as-pharma]]) introduces **profit motives and financial risks** that could conflict with those foundational missions — the deep form of the [[concept-amc-innovators-dilemma]].

**Resolution path:** longitudinal studies on AMCs that have adopted VC-style funding, tracking whether educational outcomes, basic-science research volume, or patient-care quality degrade under the shift toward commercialization.

**Enrichment context:** this is a standard critique of **"mission drift" / academic capitalism**; deeper venture-style involvement can create tension with education, open science, and patient-care priorities.