Biomedical informatics approaches and tools are key to effectively collaborate across multiple institutional partners—as proposed in this Great Plains IDeA-CTR—and to conduct research in rural communities and engage rural residents. While Nebraska has an extensive telehealth network that links all public educational facilities and hospitals, other tools and technical support are required to support multi-institutional research collaborations. Having a centrally supported core with expertise and tools is also essential to securely share and mine available research data sets. This core will not only support activities, but with an innovative collaborative biomedical informatics graduate training program in place, this core will also provide support and experience for the graduate students who will become the next generation of personnel for member institutions.