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National Institutes of Health (NIH), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service, with headquarters in Bethesda, Md. It was established initially in 1887 as a laboratory in the U.S. Marine Hospital on Staten Island in New York City, and was given its present name in 1948. The NIH conducts and supports biomedical research into the causes, cure, and prevention of disease. It maintains its own laboratories and awards grants and contracts to universities and other private research facilities. Separate national institutes function in specific areas such as cancer; heart, lung, and blood diseases; dental research; maternal and child health; allergy and infectious diseases; aging; human genome research; and mental health. It also maintains the National Library of Medicine.
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