The Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana (BRF) is an independent, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization established in 1986. The Foundation was founded through a recommendation from the Mt. Auburn Study, an economic development report that identified new initiatives to diversify the Shreveport-Bossier economy.

Seed funding for the creation of the Foundation was provided by the Caddo Parish Commission and the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce.

With 51 employees and a volunteer board of directors, the Foundation manages a $16 million operating budget and $93 million in assets. In fulfilling its mission, the Foundation supports these four initiatives:

• InterTech Science Park for life science and related technologies
• Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Imaging Center and Southern Isotopes
• Education and Workforce Development programs
• Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport (LSUHSC-S) support

During the past twenty years (1986-2006), the Foundation has raised and leveraged the following:

• $213 million with only 10% coming from Caddo Parish tax dollars - a 10:1 return on local public investments.
• $90 million invested in land and buildings to support university research and technology commercialization activities.
• $40 million invested to advance the research mission of LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport
• $30 million invested in PET Imaging Center operations. The Center currently ranks third behind Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York City and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston in number of patients scanned.
• $25 million invested in InterTech Science Park in programmatic initiatives to create a nationally-recognized regional technology center.
• 20,000 PET patients scanned, with over $10 million in free scans for indigent patients
• 500 construction jobs generated, contributing $17.5 million of wages into the local economy
• 137 InterTech and BRF permanent jobs with an annual payroll of $7 million generated
• 8 educational programs initiated and sustained to build a technology-trained workforce, including:

1. CERT - Consortium for Education Research & Technology
2. Biotechnology PhD Track
3. SMART - Science and Medicine Academic Research Training Program
4. MST - Math Science & Technology K-12 Initiative
5. EAST - Environmental & Spatial Technology Laboratory
6. FIRST Robotics Program - For Inspiration and Recognition of Science & Technology
7. BIOTECHNOLOGY MAGNET ACADEMY
8. Biotechnology Training Program at Bossier High School

5 MST Caddo Parish Schools, with 130 trained teachers reaching over 5,000 students