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The Cancer Research Collaboration works with doctors, nurses, and researchers across southern California, developing tools to battle cancer and extend the lives of men and women. Clinical research is an essential part of that mission. It’s the process in which new technologies, new medicine, and new treatments are tested and transformed into cures. In 1985, Dr. John Link partnered with world-renowned breast imaging specialist Lászlo Tábár to help establish one of the nation’s first comprehensive breast cancer treatment centers at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. Dr. Link’s commitment to advancing the practice of breast cancer care continued when he founded the Breastlink Medical Group in 1995. Breastlink, which has since grown into a network of three free-standing multidisciplinary breast health centers, was one of the first to implement a comprehensive treatment model in community settings. Over the next decade, the Breast Cancer Research Group participated in numerous Phase I through Phase IV drug and device trials, as well as Quality of Life and surgical trials. Over time, the scope of work performed by the Breast Cancer Research Group expanded beyond matching breast cancer patients with breast cancer researchers. There was renewed interest in all types of cancer, ambitions to develop a biospecimen repository and a new focus on building collaborations to foster innovation in research. For these reasons, the Breast Cancer Research Group was dissolved to pave way for the formation of the Cancer Research Collaboration. While still young, the Cancer Research Collaboration will build off of the achievements of the Breast Cancer Research Group to further advance cancer research and establish its own robust history as new accomplishments are realized.