DIREF manages or supports programs in research and education as follows:

A Detroit Fellowship, established in association with the Indian Association of Surgical Oncology, which provides a stipend of $1,000 and covers accommodation and living expenses each for five international physicians to undertake advanced studies in oncology at the Karmanos Cancer Institute.

DIREF supports resident rotations at the Instituto do Câncer do Ceará (ICC) in Fortaleza, Brazil, a 4-6 week program offered to a small number of surgical residents annually. In addition to exposure to surgical issues faced by a developing country, ICC gives them the opportunity to participate in thyroid cancer procedures, a type of cancer common there but relatively rare in Detroit.

Participation in international conferences including the annual Indian Association of Oncological Surgery Conference and an annual conference on surgical oncology that rotates between three hospitals in Brazil. (Here is the 2019 conference in Recife.)

To promote and foster international research into surgical oncology, DIREF organizes and participates in international surgical oncology research conferences; and it initiates, promotes, and supports specific research initiatives of the Surgical Innovations Program at the Michael & Marian Ilitch Department of Surgery at Wayne State University with respect to medical device development, personalized cancer therapies, and surgical simulation.