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The National Institutes of Health
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13472 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
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9 / 1987 |
3,660 Words |
| Author
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Michael Woods
Michael Woods, a contributing editor for THE WORLD & I, has
received numerous science-writing awards. |
In ancient times, there was a pool in Jerusalem renowned as a place of hope for the ill and the lame. From time to time an angel came down from heaven to stir its waters, and the first person to plunge in after the disturbance was cured.
The pool was called Bethesda.
Today, a unique biomedical research institution, located on 306 rolling acres of land in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., has given Bethesda, Maryland, even greater international renown as a modern font of medical miracles.
Bethesda is the site of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which finances 35 percent of all biomedical research in the United States. NIH's Bethesda campus represents the largest single concentration of biomedical researchers in the world - with 3,200 Ph.D. scientists and medical doctors among its staff of 12,000.
But its influence over biomedical research and impact on human health extends far beyond the boundaries of the Bethesda campus. More than 80 percent of NIH's $6-billion annual budget is devoted to funding the research project of 20,000 other scientists in 1,300 universities, medical schools, hospitals, and other research institutions in the United States and throughout the world.
Although NIH's stated goal is parochial - "to uncover new knowledge to benefit the health of the American people" - it is very much an international center for biomedical research with global impact. In fact, NIH was created partly because Congress wanted additional research on diseases that were serious problems in America but were also international in their scope. Through its Fogarty International Center, NIH promotes such global cooperation in medical research. It participates in 57 bilateral research agreements with 32 countries; trains foreign scientists and gives them research experience; and sponsors international conferences, advanced studies institutes, and other programs.
A Century of Medical Discoveries
NIH is celebrating its centennial in 1987, a century of active participation in what really ranks as the Golden Age of Medicine - a period in which mankind is gaining unprecedented insights into diseases that for millennia have held millions of people in a cruel and unrelenting
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