The Centro Español de Investigación Farmacoepidemiológica-CEIFE (Spanish Centre for Pharmacoepidemiologic Research) is a research unit created in 1994 in Madrid. Its mission is to provide high quality research on drug safety and effectiveness, by means of epidemiologic studies utilizing computerized databases. Four main sources of information are used: General Practice Research Database and The Health Improvement Network, both in the UK, BIFAP Database in Madrid and Saskatchewan Database in Canada. CEIFE collaborates with industry, regulatory authorities and other universities at a national and international level. Permanent staff includes four epidemiologists, Luis Alberto García Rodríguez (M.D.) (Director), Ana Ruigómez Sánchez (M.D.), Elisa Martín Merino, T. Lucía Cea Soriano and one information systems analyst Oscar Fernández Cantero. Postgraduate students and other research collaborators spend varying periods of time on a project-specific basis.