In 1998, the Council on Linkages Between Academia and Public Health Practice (Council on Linkages) began developing a plan that could lead to a national public health research agenda. Subsequently, a Council on Linkages ad hoc committee developed a framework using both Healthy People 2010 objectives and the 10 Essential Services of Public Health to identify, articulate, and prioritize public health research needs. This article (featured in the Spring 1999 issue of  "The Link") discusses the framework.