National Institutes of Health History in the United States
National Institutes of Health, NIH Institutes and Centers: History
Introduction to National Institutes of Health History
The National Institutes of Health traces its roots to a one-room laboratory established in 1887 by the Marine Hospital Service, which provided medical care to officers and enlisted men in the United States Navy. The Marine Hospital Service authorized a young physician named Joseph J. Kinyoun to set up a laboratory for bacterial research at the Marine Hospital on Staten Island, New York. After studying cholera-infected immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, in 1888 Kinyoun isolated the organism that causes the disease.
The laboratory moved to Washington, D.C., in 1891. Kinyoun served as the director of the Hygienic Laboratory, as it came to be called, until 1899. In 1901 the U.S. Congress authorized the Hygienic Laboratory to undertake “the investigation of infections and contagious diseases and matters pertaining to the public health.” The laboratory expanded to include divisions of pathology and bacteriology, chemistry, pharmacology, and zoology.
Congress further expanded the Hygienic Lab in 1930, renaming it the National Institute of Health. In 1937 Congress created the National Cancer Institute as a separate agency and authorized it to award grants to research scientists outside of the institute.
In 1938 the institute moved to the site of its current headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. In 1944, the National Cancer Institute became a part of the National Institute of Health. The agency was renamed the National Institutes of Health in 1946.
After 1945 the entire NIH adopted the National Cancer Institute’s system of funding research conducted at other institutions, and the agency’s budget swelled. Congress’s annual appropriation to the NIH grew from about $4 million in 1947 to more than $100 million a decade later. Congress also authorized the addition of a series of specialized institutes to the NIH, each dedicated to a specific disease, health condition, or system of the body. By 1960 the NIH comprised 10 distinct institutes; today there are 19 separate institutes and 7 centers.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about National Institutes of Health History in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia
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