National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Victoria A Harden, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
Caroline Hannaway, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Published online: April 2001

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003407

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), founded in 1887, is the United States federal government's principal agency for the support of medical research both at its campus in Bethesda, Maryland, and through grants and contracts awarded to biomedical research scientists at institutions across the United States, and, to a more limited extent, in other countries. Its mission is science in pursuit of fundamental knowledge about the nature and behaviour of living systems and the application of that knowledge to extend healthy life and reduce the burdens of illness and disability.

Keywords: biomedical research; United States federal government; granting agency; public health

Figure 1. Aerial view of the NIH campus, 1990s.
Figure 2. Joseph J. Kinyoun
Figure 3. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt dedicating Building 1 of the Bethesda NIH campus, 1940.
Figure 4. Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center.
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 Further Reading
    ePath National Institutes of Health Website [http://www.nih.gov]
    ePath National Institutes of Health Almanac Website [http://www.nih.gov/about/almanac/index.html]
    ePath DeWitt Stetten, Jr, Museum of Medical Research and NIH History Office Website [http://www.nih.gov/od/museum]
    Fox DM (1987) The politics of the NIH Extramural Program, 1937–1950. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 42: 447–466.
    book Fredrickson DS (1993) "Biomedical science and the culture warp". In: Kelley WN, Osterweis M and Rubin ER (eds) Emerging Policies for Biomedical Research, pp. 1–42. Health Policy Annual III. Washington DC: Association of Academic Health Centers.
    book Harden VA (1986) Inventing the NIH: Federal Biomedical Research Policy, 1887–1937. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
    book Mandel R (1996) A Half Century of Peer Review, 1946–1996. Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, Division of Research Grants.
    book Mider G Burroughs (1976) "The federal impact on biomedical research". In: Bowers JZ and Purcell EF (eds) Advances in American Medicine: Essays at the Bicentennial, vol. 2, pp. 806–871. New York: Josiah Macy, Jr, Foundation.
    book Mullan F (1989) Plagues and Politics: The Story of the United States Public Health Service. New York: Basic Books.
    book Shorter E (1987) The Health Century. New York: Doubleday.
    book Stetten D Jr and Carrigan WT (eds) (1984) NIH: An Account of Research in its Laboratories and Clinics. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
    book Strickland S (1972) Politics, Science, and Dread Disease: A Short History of United States Medical Research Policy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
    book Strickland S (1989) The Story of the NIH Grants Program. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
    book US National Library of Medicine (1980) Notable Contributions to Medical Research by Public Health Service Scientists: A Biobibliography to 1940. Compiled by J Barry. Washington, DC: US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service Publication no. 752.
    book Williams RC (1951) The United States Public Health Service, 1798–1950. Washington DC: Commissioned Officers Association.

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Article Title: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
 
How to Cite close
Harden, Victoria A, and Hannaway, Caroline(Apr 2001) National Institutes of Health (NIH). In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0003407]