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{"id":29241,"date":"2024-05-23T11:00:48","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T15:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/?p=29241"},"modified":"2024-10-21T10:57:22","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T14:57:22","slug":"mission-and-mandate-navigating-the-history-of-science-administration-at-the-nih","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2024\/05\/23\/mission-and-mandate-navigating-the-history-of-science-administration-at-the-nih\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission and Mandate: Navigating the History of Science Administration at the NIH"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Todd M. Olszewski ~<\/em><\/p>\n<p>As a historian, I study the intersections among clinical medicine, health research, and health policy. What interests me especially is the history of the National Institutes of Health. Two major questions propel my work: how have NIH administrators interpreted the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nih.gov\/about-nih\/what-we-do\/mission-goals\">NIH mission<\/a>, and how have these mission-driven debates shaped NIH efforts to bridge research and practice?<\/p>\n<p>Despite its status as a major funder of biomedical research at American medical schools and universities, historians have left the NIH relatively understudied. Some have examined different facets of NIH history, such as its role in the development of clinical research and its contributions to biomedical technologies and research methods, but often to better understand another historical topic rather than the agency itself.<\/p>\n<p>I had the good fortune to be a Stetten Fellow in the <a href=\"https:\/\/history.nih.gov\/\">Office of NIH History<\/a> from 2008-2010. During my first months in Bethesda, Dr. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nih.gov\/about-nih\/what-we-do\/nih-almanac\/elias-zerhouni-md\">Elias Zerhouni<\/a> was completing his term as NIH Director. One of Zerhouni\u2019s signature initiatives had been the <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/14526066\/\">NIH Roadmap<\/a>, which represented a set of NIH-wide priorities intended to accelerate the research and discovery process across multiple NIH institutes.<\/p>\n<p>Coverage of the Roadmap sparked what has now become my longer-term study of the NIH, its mission, and its evolution as a government agency. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlm.nih.gov\/hmd\/get-involved\/debakey-fellowship.html\">As an NLM Micheal E. DeBakey Fellow in the History of Medicine<\/a>, I had the opportunity to return to the NIH campus and examine multiple NLM collections of archival sources, government publications, and media coverage pertaining to the NIH. Given its location on the NIH\u2019s Bethesda campus<span class=\"ui-provider a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z ab ac ae af ag ah ai aj ak\" dir=\"ltr\">\u2014as well as its longstanding collaboration with the Office of <a class=\"fui-Link ___1rxvrpe f2hkw1w f3rmtva f1ewtqcl fyind8e f1k6fduh f1w7gpdv fk6fouc fjoy568 figsok6 f1hu3pq6 f11qmguv f19f4twv f1tyq0we f1g0x7ka fhxju0i f1qch9an f1cnd47f fqv5qza f1vmzxwi f1o700av f13mvf36 f1cmlufx f9n3di6 f1ids18y f1tx3yz7 f1deo86v f1eh06m1 f1iescvh fhgqx19 f1olyrje f1p93eir f1nev41a f1h8hb77 f1lqvz6u f10aw75t fsle3fq f17ae5zn\" title=\"https:\/\/history.nih.gov\/\" href=\"https:\/\/history.nih.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Link NIH History and Stetten Museum\">NIH History and Stetten Museum<\/a> to ensure that the history of the NIH is documented, preserved, and accessible to current and future generations of researchers\u2014<\/span>the NLM serves as a useful repository for any historian interested in the administrative history of the NIH.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_29247\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29247\" style=\"width: 840px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NIH_101441200.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"29247\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2024\/05\/23\/mission-and-mandate-navigating-the-history-of-science-administration-at-the-nih\/nih_101441200\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NIH_101441200.jpg?fit=1518%2C1200&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1518,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"NIH_101441200\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"<p>Building 1 at the National Institutes of Health, ca. 1970<br \/>\nNational Library of Medicine #101441200<\/p>\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NIH_101441200.jpg?fit=300%2C237&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NIH_101441200.jpg?fit=840%2C664&ssl=1\" class=\"size-large wp-image-29247\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NIH_101441200.jpg?resize=840%2C664&ssl=1\" alt=\"A four story brick building with a columned porch and the NIH name and seal on the facade.\" width=\"840\" height=\"664\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NIH_101441200.jpg?resize=1024%2C809&ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NIH_101441200.jpg?resize=300%2C237&ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NIH_101441200.jpg?resize=768%2C607&ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NIH_101441200.jpg?resize=1200%2C949&ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NIH_101441200.jpg?resize=840%2C664&ssl=1 840w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NIH_101441200.jpg?w=1518&ssl=1 1518w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-29247\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Building 1 at the National Institutes of Health, ca. 1970<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/resource.nlm.nih.gov\/101441200\"><em>National Library of Medicine #101441200<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When the <a href=\"https:\/\/history.nih.gov\/display\/history\/WWI+and+the+Ransdell+Act+of+1930\">Ransdell Act<\/a> formalized the singularly named National Institute of Health in 1930, it defined the NIH mission as encompassing the \u201cstudy, investigation, and research in the fundamental problems of the diseases of man and matters pertaining thereto.\u201d NIH Directors have since inherited their predecessors\u2019 signature initiatives, developed their own, and responded to Congressional inquiries into the agency\u2019s research priorities. Although incomplete, the <a href=\"https:\/\/findingaids.nlm.nih.gov\/repositories\/ammp\/resources\/nihdirector536\">NIH Directors\u2019 Files<\/a> collection illuminates different directors\u2019 efforts to interpret the NIH mission and move that vision forward. The collection includes public speeches, committee meeting minutes, and other administrative reports that offer useful glimpses into how scientific administrators operated at the NIH.<\/p>\n<p>For example, in 1972, NIH Director <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nih.gov\/about-nih\/what-we-do\/nih-almanac\/robert-q-marston-md\">Robert Q. Marston<\/a> spoke at the dedication of the O\u2019Neill Laboratories at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. <a href=\"https:\/\/catalog.nlm.nih.gov\/permalink\/01NLM_INST\/1o1phhn\/alma9910863233406676\">During his speech<\/a>, Marston focused on the federal government\u2019s role in the medical research enterprise. As he noted, \u201cwhile [the NIH\u2019s] central task has been to build and sustain the nation\u2019s capability for medical research, its primary purpose, as an agency of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, is to improve the health of the American people.\u201d The notion of improving the public\u2019s health proved pivotal to most NIH Director messaging.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_29245\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29245\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Goals_Healy-Papers_MS-C-624.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"29245\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2024\/05\/23\/mission-and-mandate-navigating-the-history-of-science-administration-at-the-nih\/goals_healy-papers_ms-c-624\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Goals_Healy-Papers_MS-C-624.jpg?fit=914%2C1200&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"914,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"2.2","credit":"","camera":"iPhone 6s","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1690310675","copyright":"","focal_length":"4.15","iso":"64","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"Goals_Healy-Papers_MS-C-624\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"<p>\u201cStrategic Plan: Chore and Opportunity,\u201d June 23, 1992<br \/>\nBernadine Healy Papers, MS C 624. Box 12, Folder 26<br \/>\nNational Library of Medicine #101600265<\/p>\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Goals_Healy-Papers_MS-C-624.jpg?fit=229%2C300&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Goals_Healy-Papers_MS-C-624.jpg?fit=780%2C1024&ssl=1\" class=\"wp-image-29245\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Goals_Healy-Papers_MS-C-624.jpg?resize=400%2C525&ssl=1\" alt=\"A typed document with extensive handwritten annotations.\" width=\"400\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Goals_Healy-Papers_MS-C-624.jpg?resize=780%2C1024&ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Goals_Healy-Papers_MS-C-624.jpg?resize=229%2C300&ssl=1 229w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Goals_Healy-Papers_MS-C-624.jpg?resize=768%2C1008&ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Goals_Healy-Papers_MS-C-624.jpg?resize=840%2C1103&ssl=1 840w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Goals_Healy-Papers_MS-C-624.jpg?w=914&ssl=1 914w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-29245\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Handwritten edits on an early NIH strategic plan draft, 1992 <br \/><em><a href=\"https:\/\/findingaids.nlm.nih.gov\/repositories\/4\/resources\/922\">Bernadine Healy Papers, MS C 624<\/a><\/em><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/catalog.nlm.nih.gov\/permalink\/01NLM_INST\/1o1phhn\/alma9916002653406676\"><em>National Library of Medicine #101600265<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Twenty years later, another NIH Director rolled out the first NIH-wide strategic plan. When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nih.gov\/about-nih\/what-we-do\/nih-almanac\/bernadine-healy-md\">Bernadine Healy<\/a> became the first woman to be appointed NIH Director, she inherited an initiative to implement an agency-wide strategic plan. <a href=\"https:\/\/catalog.nlm.nih.gov\/permalink\/01NLM_INST\/1o1phhn\/alma9916002653406676\">In prepared comments<\/a> to the task force tasked with developing the plan, she presented the initiative as an opportunity: \u201cshould not the strategic planning effort also serve as a means to communicate NIH\u2019s mission and activities both to the scientific community at large and to the public we serve?\u201d \u00a0Healy\u2019s strategic plan served as one example of uniting institutes and centers that typically operated independently under one set of guiding principles. In sum, the strategic plan outlined that the NIH would launch new grant programs to build the next generation of clinical researchers, increase the number of research grants awarded by the agency, and develop a new agency-wide communication strategy to maintain the public\u2019s trust.<\/p>\n<p>Marston\u2019s Johns Hopkins speech, Healy\u2019s strategic plan rollout, and Zerhouni\u2019s roadmap each provide snapshots into how NIH Directors proposed implementing the NIH mission and coordinating agency-wide activities in the name of the public\u2019s health.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/faculty-headshot.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"29244\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2024\/05\/23\/mission-and-mandate-navigating-the-history-of-science-administration-at-the-nih\/001_faculty-headshots-0631-jpg\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/faculty-headshot.jpg?fit=255%2C383&ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"255,383\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"9","credit":"","camera":"Canon EOS 5D Mark III","caption":"Faculty Headshots, Todd Olszewski, HPM","created_timestamp":"1476878323","copyright":"","focal_length":"170","iso":"250","shutter_speed":"0.005","title":"001_faculty-headshots-0631.jpg","orientation":"1"}\" data-image-title=\"001_faculty-headshots-0631.jpg\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"<p>Faculty Headshots, Todd Olszewski, HPM<\/p>\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/faculty-headshot.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/faculty-headshot.jpg?fit=255%2C383&ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-29244\" title=\"Faculty Headshots, Todd Olszewski, HPM\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/faculty-headshot.jpg?resize=100%2C150&ssl=1\" alt=\"A white man in a suit and glasses.\" width=\"100\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/faculty-headshot.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/faculty-headshot.jpg?w=255&ssl=1 255w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><\/a><em>Todd M. Olszewski, PhD, is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Sciences at Providence College and a 2020 <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nlm.nih.gov\/hmd\/get-involved\/debakey-fellowship.html\"><em>NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellow in the History of Medicine<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Todd M. Olszewski ~ As a historian, I study the intersections among clinical medicine, health research, and health policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19605840,"featured_media":29246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14520,42333869,12763,51014],"tags":[631875,58980,678875976],"class_list":["post-29241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-us","category-archives-manuscripts","category-collections","category-guests","tag-nih","tag-fellowship","tag-speech"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/NIH_101441200_feature.jpg?fit=900%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3xcDk-7BD","jetpack-related-posts":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19605840"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29241"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29901,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29241\/revisions\/29901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} |