NIH History

The National Institutes of Health traces its roots to 1887, when a one-room laboratory was created within the Marine Hospital Service (MHS), predecessor agency to the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS).

The MHS had been established in 1798 to provide for the medical care of merchant seamen. In the 1880s, the MHS had been charged by Congress with examining passengers on arriving ships for clinical signs of infectious diseases, especially for the dreaded diseases cholera and yellow fever, in order to prevent epidemics. Read A Short History of NIH.

Chronology of Events

Significant events and major research advances in NIH history.

Legislative Chronology

Federal legislation that had a major influence on the growth of the NIH, from its beginning as the Marine Hospital Service in 1798.

Related Links

• The NIH Almanac—facts and figures, legislative history, Nobel Laureates
• Office of NIH History and Stetten Museum
• NIH photo gallery—US presidential visits to the NIH campus and historical photos of NIH researchers
• History of Medicine—from the National Library of Medicine