National Institutes of Health (NIH) is an agency of the United States government. It is part of the Public Health Service of the Department of Health and Human Services. NIH conducts and supports a broad range of biomedical research and provides funds for the training of research scientists. The agency also classifies and distributes biological and medical information.
NIH conducts research at its laboratories in Bethesda, Maryland. There are 19 NIH institutes. They deal with (1) aging; (2) alcoholism; (3) allergy and infectious diseases; (4) arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases; (5) biomedical imaging and bioengineering; (6) cancer; (7) child health and human development; (8) deafness and other communication disorders; (9) dental research; (10) diabetes and digestive and kidney diseases; (11) drug misuse; (12) environmental health sciences; (13) the eye; (14) general medical sciences; (15) the heart, lungs, and blood; (16) human genes; (17) mental health; (18) neurological disorders and stroke; and (19) nursing. The NIH Clinical Center, a research hospital, serves the institutes. NIH also includes the National Library of Medicine; the Fogarty International Center for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences; the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine; the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities; and three support divisions that deal with information technology, research resources, and scientific review.
NIH traces its history to 1887, when the Hygienic Laboratory was set up at the U.S. Marine Hospital on Staten Island. The agency adopted its present name in 1948.
