Research is conducted throughout the Geisinger Health System in both its dedicated research centers and institutes, as well as in its clinical departments and service lines. The major locus of research activity and leadership are the three research centers that serve as home to full time investigators in basic, translational, and health services research and which provide facilities, sophisticated research equipment, and administrative support to foster innovative and collaborative research:

• The Sigfried and Janet Weis Center for Research, established with a philanthropic gift in 1987, focuses on basic research on the molecular and cellular basis of diseases and on translational research, and in particular genomic medicine.
• The Geisinger Center for Health Research, founded in 2003, advances outcomes and population-based research and devises new models of care to improve the efficiency and quality of care to patients.

To emphasize specific cross-disciplinary focus areas, Geisinger has created institutes, such as the Obesity Institute and the Genomic Medicine Institute.  The Obesity Institute facilitates research that addresses the challenges of obesity and obesity-related diseases, while the Genomic Medicine Institute uses genomic medicine to develop innovative treatment strategies and cures.

Clinical departments and clinical service lines are also home to research programs including extensive research being conducted by the Departments of Cardiology, Rheumatology, Orthopaedics and Vascular Surgery, among others. Both pediatric and adult oncology departments are actively involved in trials through the National Cancer Institute-designated cooperative oncology groups, an effort which is directly facilitated by Geisinger’s Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) award from the National Institutes of Health. 

In addition to many project-specific collaborations, Geisinger has created a number of formal, External Affiliations, which serve to enrich its intellectual and scientific environment, provide access to students and research resources, and extend the reach of Geisinger’s efforts.
External affiliations, which involve many research networks, include but are not limited to:

• Geisinger's membership with the HMO Research Network, a consortium that fosters and supports population-based research collaboration,
• Research affiliations with Johns Hopkins University and the River Group
• The Keystone Institute for Translational Medicine (KITM) which merges the expertise of the Geisinger Health System, Temple University School of Medicine, and the Fox Chase Cancer Center. Collaborative clinical and translational KITM research focuses on diseases predominate among socioeconomically disadvantaged and at-risk populations.