The NITD is one of three corporate research institutes overseen by Prof. Paul Herrling, Ph.D. The other two Corporate Research institutes are the Friedrich Miescher Institute (FMI) in Basel, Switzerland, and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) in La Jolla, California. The mission of the corporate research institutes is to leverage the specific scientific knowledge from its three institutes in order to contribute to Novartis' goal of addressing unmet medical needs. Towards this goal, Novartis Corporate Research accesses talent pools throughout the world, and fosters collaborations between its three institutes as well as with external partners.

The Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) was founded in 2002 and is a public-private partnership between Novartis AG and the Singapore Economic Development Board. NITD is located on Singapore's biotechnology campus, Biopolis, with a total staff of more than 100. NITD has a not-for-profit mission in that it focuses on drug discovery for neglected tropical diseases endemic in developing countries. A second focus of the institute is to provide teaching and training opportunities for post-doctoral fellows, graduate students and visiting scientists, especially those from developing countries.

Located in Basel, Switzerland, the Friedrich Miescher Institute (FMI) was founded in 1970, and is and is now part of the Novartis Research Foundation. The FMI, with a total staff of 280, is devoted to fundamental biomedical research and focuses on epigenetics, growth control, and neurobiology. The FMI is dedicated to train young scientists through its Ph.D. programs and post-doctoral fellowships.

The Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) is funded through the Novartis Research Foundation as a research center with. The institute was founded in 1999 and works on the development of advanced technologies ranging from cellular genomics and proteomics to combinatorial chemistry and structural biology. GNF applies these technologies in a multidisciplinary approach to drug discovery. It currently houses over 400 researchers and engineers. It’s labs are located in a 260,000 square foot building in the heart of the Torrey Pines Science Park.

The Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health (NVGH) is a research institute established by Novartis in 2007 dedicated to the translational research and development of vaccines. The NVGH will focus on diseases that are not receiving adequate attention, especially those diseases which are particularly devastating to developing countries. NVGH is located on Novartis campus in Siena, Italy.