An interinstitutional, interagency Consortium has been formed in Houston to develop an innovative service model and provide interdisciplinary primary care/mental health training. The Houston Consortium Program integrates mental health professionals and trainees into the primary care framework of a neighborhood center serving a low-income, predominatly Mexican-American population. The introduction of mental health, psychosocial, and cross-cultural perspectives to complement the long-standing physiological concerns of health professionals fosters an holistic approach to patient care. The social workers' full participation as members of primary care teams builds upon their traditional training to provide them the experience and skills required to function effectively in the expanded coordinative capacity of health/mental health manager as defined by the President's Commission on Mental Health. It is anticipated that Consortium Program can serve as a heuristic model in the development of a nationwide pattern of comprehensive care.

This article describes the findings of a study undertaken to shed light on some of the factors that determine the employment of foreign biomedical scientists in the United States by examining their presence at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH was selected as the focus of the study for its unique combination of characteristics. It is a federal agency with the ambiance of academe that carries out biomedical research and training internally while supporting like activities externally through grant‐ and contract‐based linkages with a host of academic institutions and biotechnology firms in the United States and abroad. Over a two‐year period, in‐depth interviews were conducted with more than 200 stakeholders at the NIH campus and elsewhere, as well as ethnographic observations. The study identified several hitherto unreported important functions that NIH plays in facilitating the inflow of talented foreign scientists to meet its manpower needs and those of the broader national economy.

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