RPCI has forged strong links with government, education, and business throughout New York State. The Institute’s role as a leader among alliances of research institutions provides the advantage of shared technology and expertise as well as greater momentum in achieving established goals.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) is the only upstate New York facility to hold the National Cancer Institute designation of "comprehensive cancer center" and one of 41 such centers in the United States. This designation means that a cancer center's combined research, treatment and educational programs have weathered extensive peer review, met rigorous national standards, and made fundamental contributions to reducing the cancer burden. Since 1971 Roswell Park has been recognized by the NCI as a comprehensive cancer center. It was the nation's first, has served as a national model and is the only one in Upstate New York.

RPCI is also a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), an alliance of the nation's leading cancer centers. A not-for-profit organization, the NCCN brings together the best minds in science to engineer continuous quality improvements in cancer care; improves the effectiveness of cancer care delivery through the ongoing collection and analysis of outcome data on a national basis; enhances communications and collaboration among member institutions; offers access to the latest, most promising clinical trials; and provides best practice guidelines and measurement tools.

The Regional Cancer Center Consortium for Biological Therapy of Cancer, which comprises cancer researchers in immunology and biological therapies from institutions in New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

The Upstate New York Consortium for Biomedical Research (UNYCoR), whose members include RPCI, the University of Rochester, Cornell University, the Upstate (Syracuse) Medical Center, and the University at Buffalo. The organization seeks to attract greater peer-reviewed funding for collaborative research as well as greater researcher access to high-quality core resources.

The University at Buffalo and the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute. Among other joint initiatives, the three institutions have established the Western New York STAR (Strategically Targeted Academic Research) Center for Disease Modeling and Drug Discovery. The center is funded with a grant from the New York State STAR Office - one of only five such grants awarded through a statewide, peer-reviewed competition.