The paper summarizes the evolution of a biomedical field research station in Tanzania, established by a European institute, into a national health research and resource centre. The Swiss Tropical Institute Field Laboratory was founded in Ifakara in the Kilombero District in southeastern Tanzania in 1957. It has evolved into the Ifakara Centre, a national but peripherally located research centre involved in applied, operational and health systems research, training, and direct health sector support activities. Since 1991, the centre has been an affiliate of the National Institute for Medical Research in Tanzania. It has achieved an autonomous status and attracts frontline priority research and high quality research teams; the ongoing phase 3 malaria vaccine trial is a recent major activity. Starting from biomedical priorities in research and training, the centre has broadened its spectrum to include social science disciplines including economics. The major determinants for this development were (i) the long-term partnership between the executing agency in the north and the partners in the south at the national level, (ii) the support of this partnership by a long-term commitment of the major funding partners, (iii) the concept that local priorities form the basis of all activities, and (iv) the linking of research and training to public health action. The last two elements are considered to be crucial for the centre's multidisciplinary approach to health research and the support of public health in Tanzania and in eastern and southern Africa.