National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), based in Bethesda, Maryland, is an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services. In the USA, they are the most important authority for biomedical research. Francis Collins has been the director since July 2009. Appointed by US President Barack Obama, President Donald Trump left him in office, and this is not expected to change under President Joe Biden.

With an annual budget of about US$ 30.3 billion (fiscal year 2015), the NIH is the largest research funding agency in the world. The share of the total expenditure for biomedical research in the USA corresponds to 28 %. NIH employs approximately 20,262 people (with all institutes), including about 6,000 employees in its Intramural Research Program. 80 % of the budget is distributed to more than 300,000 researchers per year.

The history of the NIH begins in 1887 with the founding of the Laboratory of Hygiene at the Marine Hospital in Staten Island, New York City. The NIH is located on a campus-like area with more than 75 buildings. It has 27 institutes, including the world's largest medical library, the National Library of Medicine (NLM).