Conclusions

I have tried to expose the problems that contributed to the demise of the JVNC. In such a complex and expensive enterprise, not everything will go right. Certainly many difficult factors were common to all five centers. It was the concatenation of the common factors with the ones unique to the JVNC that caused its demise and allowed the other centers to survive. Of course, once the JVNC was removed, the funding profile for the other centers must have improved.

In summary, I believe the most serious problem was the governance arrangements that controlled the management of the JVNC. Here seeds of failure were sown at the inception of the JVNC and were not weeded out. A second difficulty was the lack of adequate funding. I believe the second factor continues to affect the other centers and is a potential problem for all of them in terms of staying healthy, acquiring new machines, and maintaining challenging environments.

I have tried as gently as possible to expose the organizations that were deficient and that must bear some responsibilities for the failure of the JVNC. I hope, when new activities in this vein are initiated in the future, these lessons will be remembered and the same paths will not be traveled once again.