The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is part of the Department of Health and Human services and the U.S.’s primary biomedical research agency. Every year, the NIH grants tens of billions of dollars to hundreds of thousands of researchers studying the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and cure of human diseases, the processes of human growth and development, the biological effects of the environment, and the understanding of mental, addictive, and physical disorders. The NIH funds over 25% of all U.S. biomedical research and has contributed to countless breakthroughs and innovations over the last century. Through the Human Genome Project, completed in 2003, the NIH laid the foundation for personalized medicine.

You can read more about the NIH here: http://www.nih.gov/

The NIH is composed of 27 institutes and centers focused on different areas of disease or functions of the body. The largest of these specialized organizations is the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is dedicated to cancer research, training scientists, and providing the public with up-to-date information about cancer.

You can read more about the NCI here: http://www.cancer.gov/