National Institutes of Health

National Institutes of Health is NIH. The main organization in the federal government responsible for conducting and supporting medical research.

Department of Health and Human Services

NIH is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

History

Popularly known as NIH, the United States National Institutes of Health traces its roots to 1887, when a one-room laboratory was created within the Marine Hospital Service (MHS), predecessor agency to the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS).

The MHS had been established in 1798 to provide for the medical care of merchant seamen. In the 1880s, the MHS had been charged by Congress with examining passengers on arriving ships for clinical signs of infectious diseases, especially for the dreaded diseases cholera and yellow fever, in order to prevent epidemics. Read A Short History of NIH.

NIH instituions summary

• National Cancer Institute (NCI) — Est. 1937 - NCI leads a national effort to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. 
• National Eye Institute (NEI) — Est. 1968 - The National Eye Institute’s mission is to conduct and support research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to blinding eye diseases, visual disorders, mechanisms of visual function, preservation of sight, and the special health problems and requirements of the blind.
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) — Est. 1948 - The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) provides global leadership for a research, training, and education program to promote the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, and blood diseases and enhance the health of all individuals so that they can live longer and more fulfilling lives. 
• National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) — Est. 1989 - NHGRI is devoted to advancing health through genome research. The Institute led NIH’s contribution to the Human Genome Project
• National Institute on Aging (NIA) — Est. 1974 - NIA leads a national program of research on the biomedical, social, and behavioral aspects of the aging process; the prevention of age-related diseases and disabilities; and the promotion of a better quality of life for all older Americans.
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) — Est. 1970 - NIAAA conducts research focused on improving the treatment and prevention of alcoholism and alcohol-related problems to reduce the enormous health, social, and economic consequences of this disease.
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) — Est. 1948

NIAID research strives to understand, treat, and ultimately prevent the myriad infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases that threaten millions of human lives.

• National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) — Est. 1986 - NIAMS supports research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases, the training of basic and clinical scientists to carry out this research, and the dissemination of information on research progress in these diseases.

• National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) — Est. 2000 The mission of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) is to improve health by leading the development and accelerating the application of biomedical technologies.
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) — Est. 1962 - NICHD leads research and training to understand human development, improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and optimize abilities for all.
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) — Est. 1988 - NIDCD conducts and supports biomedical research and research training on normal mechanisms as well as diseases and disorders of hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech, and language that affect 46 million Americans.
• National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) — Est. 1948 - NIDCR provides leadership for a national research program designed to understand, treat, and ultimately prevent the infectious and inherited craniofacial-oral-dental diseases and disorders that compromise millions of human lives.
• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) — Est. 1950 - The mission of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) is to conduct and support medical research and research training and to disseminate science-based information on diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic diseases; digestive diseases, nutritional disorders, and obesity; and kidney, urologic, and hematologic diseases, to improve people’s health and quality of life.
• National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) — Est. 1974 - The mission of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is to advance science on the causes and consequences of drug use and addiction and to apply that knowledge to improve individual and public health. 
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) — Est. 1969 - The mission of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is to discover how the environment affects people in order to promote healthier lives.
• National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) — Est. 1962 - The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) supports basic research that increases understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention.
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) — Est. 1949 - NIMH provides national leadership dedicated to understanding, treating, and preventing mental illnesses through basic research on the brain and behavior, and through clinical, epidemiological, and services research.
• National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) — Est. 2010 - NIMHD has a long history, beginning in 1990 as an Office and later designated a Center in 2000. The mission of NIMHD is to lead scientific research to improve minority health and eliminate health disparities. 
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) — Est. 1950 - The mission of NINDS is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease. 
• National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) — Est. 1986 - The mission of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) is to promote and improve the health of individuals, families, communities, and populations. 
• National Library of Medicine (NLM) — Est. 1956 - NLM collects, organizes, and makes available biomedical science information to scientists, health professionals, and the public. 

Full list of institutions

It is composed of 27 Institutes and Centers that provide financial support to researchers in the United States and throughout the world to investigate ways to prevent, treat, and cure common and rare diseases.

• National Cancer Institute -->website
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases -->website
• National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research -->website
• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases -->website
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute -->website
• National Institute of Mental Health -->website
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke -->website
• National Library of Medicine -->website
• National Institute of Child Health and Human Development -->website
• National Institute of General Medical Sciences -->website
• National Eye Institute -->website
• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences -->website
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism -->website
• National Institute on Drug Abuse -->website
• National Institute on Aging -->website
• National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases -->website
• National Institute of Nursing Research -->website
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders -->website
• National Human Genome Research Institute -->website
• National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering -->website
• National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities -->website
• Center for Scientific Review -->website
• Clinical Center -->website
• National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences -->website
• Center for Information Technology -->website
• John E. Fogarty International Center -->website
• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health -->website
• National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research -->website
• National Center for Research Resources -->website

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