Health care system capacity and sustainability to address the needs of an aging population are a challenge worldwide. An aging population has brought attention to the limitations associated with existing health systems, specifically the heavy emphasis on costly acute care and insufficient investments in comprehensive primary health care (PHC). Health system reform demands capacity building of academic trainees in PHC research to meet this challenge.

Many ACHRU trainees have now completed their training programs; some are pursuing additional academic training, several have initiated careers in academia with early grant success, while others contribute to the health care system through leadership roles in policy and practice. ACHRU’s scientific leads, in turn, experienced reciprocity and a return on investment from capacity development efforts through mutual learning, enhanced academic outputs, and expertise brought by interdisciplinary PHC trainees.