The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the biomedical research agency of the U.S. federal government. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC, the NIH funds intramural (federal employee) scientists and extramural (outside the federal government) researchers across the country. Eighty percent of the NIH budget goes to grants to outside universities and laboratories. Research conducted at the NIH or with NIH funds leads to a more complete understanding of human health and to developing preventions, cures, and therapies for disease. At the same time, the agency has been forced to address and respond to ethical questions regarding research subjects, research topics, and scientific conflicts of interest.

From the Marine Hospital Service to the Hygiene Laboratory

In 1798 President John Adams signed legislation that started the United States on a long road of funding health-related activities by creating a Marine...