In April 2007 the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Education signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Harvard Medical School to develop a program of cooperation in research and education with Portuguese schools of medicine and major national research centers working in biomedical and health sciences.Two years later, on May 21, 2009, the Harvard Medical School - Portugal Program in Translational Research and Information was formally launched after approval by the Portuguese Parliament and by Harvard Medical School. The signing ceremony was presided over by Prime Minister José Socrates and attended by José Mariano Gago, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Ana Jorge, Minister of Health, the deans of the seven Portuguese medical schools, the directors of the Portuguese Associate Laboratories, and deans from Harvard Medical School. In the same ceremony, the Portuguese medical school deans and Associate Laboratory directors signed a special agreement committing their institutions to full support of the HMS-Portugal Program. This event was unique, as it represented the first collaborative agreement of this sort amongst biomedical institutions devoted to education and research in Portugal.The Harvard Medical School - Portugal Program has three key missions: to help modernize and improve the quality of medical research and education in Portugal; to encourage and support collaborative research in biomedical sciences between colleagues in Portugal and at Harvard Medical School and affiliated institutions; and to produce and publish both medical and health information for the general public and educational material for medical students and health professionals in Portugal. These are ambitious and challenging goals, and fulfilling them requires an enormous joint effort.