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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
Date : |
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
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