Welcome from the Director
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John
I. Gallin, M.D.
Director, NIH Clinical Center
and NIH Associate Director
for Clinical Research
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Welcome to the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, the research hospital of
the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Through clinical research, scientific
discoveries in the laboratory are translated into new and better medical
treatments and therapies. The NIH Clinical Center is one of the 25 organizations
that make up the National Institutes of
Health.
NIH is one of the eight agencies that comprise the US Department of Health and Human Services. Since its first patients were admitted in 1953, the NIH Clinical Center has served as an international model for the conduct of clinical research. More than a quarter million patients have participated in research here. Their dedication has resulted in profound improvements to the nation's health.
Clinical research is at the heart of the Clinical Center's mission. Natural history studies, often in patients with rare diseases, make up about half of the clinical research conducted here in Bethesda, Maryland. Understanding the basis for rare diseases often leads to new approaches to common problems. Most of the other clinical research studies are the early (Phase 1 and 2) trials that are the first applications of basic, bench-side research into new treatments and therapies in people. About a thousand clinical research studies are underway here. Please visit our database of studies for details on those studies. Or speak with one of the specialists in our patient recruitment office, 1-800-411-1222.
This is a time of tremendous growth and expansion for us. In 1997, Vice President Al Gore and Senator Mark O. Hatfield helped break ground for the new Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center. The center, slated for completion in 2004, will house new inpatient hospital units, day stations, and research labs. Together, the Magnuson and Hatfield Centers will provide the environment necessary to expand the frontlines of medical discovery.
The Magnuson and Hatfield Centers will provide the bricks and mortar for progress, and the NIH Clinical Research Information System now in development will serve as the nerve center. We're committed to making information management more efficient and responsive to the evolving needs of clinicians, clinical researchers, patients, managers, and regulatory bodies. This new system represents an enormous step forward.
Another project we're excited about is the NIH Family Lodge, which will provide homelike accommodations for families while loved ones receive care here. Having a chronic illness places an incredible burden on the family as a whole. The Lodge will help alleviate some of that burden. The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health coordinates funding for this important facility.
Thank you for visiting our web site. If you have a question or suggestion for us, please send it to my attention through our communications office (OCCC@cc.nih.gov).
