The NIH Almanac
NIH Clinical Center
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Mission
The NIH Clinical Center (CC) is the clinical research hospital for the National Institutes of Health. It's the nation's largest hospital devoted entirely to clinical research. Through clinical research, clinician-investigators translate laboratory discoveries into better treatments, therapies and interventions to improve the nation's health.
About 1,500 clinical research studies currently are active at the NIH Clinical Center. About half are the first tests of new drugs or medical treatment in people. The rest are natural history studies of diseases, including many rare diseases. Clinical and laboratory research is conducted shoulder-to-shoulder at the CC and this tandem approach drives all aspects of its operations. More than 350,000 research volunteers have participated in clinical research studies at the Clinical Center since the hospital opened in 1953. In 2009 their care accounted for about 6,500 inpatient admissions and more than 90,000 outpatient visits.
At the NIH Clinical Center, clinical research participants are active partners in medical discovery, a partnership that has resulted in a long list of medical milestones, including the first cure of a solid tumor with chemotherapy, gene therapy, use of AZT to treat AIDS, and successful replacement of a mitral valve.
Important Events in CC History
November 1948—Construction of the Clinical Center was started.
June 22, 1951— President Harry S. Truman was the honored guest for the cornerstone ceremony.
July 2, 1953—The CC was dedicated by DHEW Secretary Oveta Culp Hobby.
July 6, 1953—The first patient was admitted to the Clinical Center.
1954—The Clinical Center's diagnostic x-ray department acquires the only Schnonander angiocardiographic unit in the U.S. It takes films in two planes at the rate of six films per second, permitting a graphic demonstration of contrast substances as they pass through the heart, making diagnosis faster and more accurate.
1957—The Clinical Pathology Department starts an approved residency training programand develops the first automated machine for counting red and white blood cells (until then counted manually), from which later comes the Coulter counter.
1957—The Blood Bank publishes its first research paper, delineating the post-transfusion hepatitis problem, firing the first salvo in a long but largely successful campaign.
1959—A new, circular surgical wing (10A) is built.
September 5, 1963—A new surgical wing for cardiac and neurosurgery was dedicated by Luther L. Terry, Surgeon General. Disposable surgical gloves are introduced.
1963—The Blood Bank moves to a new a new areas and blood collections begin on the NIH campus.
1964—Harvey Alter (Clinical Center) and Baruch Blumberg (NIDDK) co-discover the Australian antigen, which Blumberg later shows to be the surface coating of the hepatitis B virus, leading to the isolation of this medically important virus. Blumberg later wins Nobel Prize. Alter, who later receives the Lasker Award, does pioneering work in the causes and prevention of blood-transmitted infections, which helps lead to the discovery of the virus that causes hepatitis C and the development of screening methods that will reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted hepatitis.
1964—John L. Doppman and associates in diagnostic radiology report the first successful imaging of the arteries that supply the spinal cord. The technique of spinal angiography makes surgical intervention possible where spinal arterial malformations, lesions, or tumors cause paralysis.
1965—Clinical Pathology acquires a Control Data 3200 computer, which fills a room the size of a small living room. Some instruments are placed online; other data are entered on key-punched cards.
1966—A Department of Nuclear Medicine is established in the Clinical Center, headed by Jack Davidson, to centralize imaging facilities for patients in any institute. Radiation Safety, Diagnostics, and the Whole Body Counter Division become part of Nuclear Medicine and the old Radiation Safety Division is abolished. President Lyndon B. Johnson visits the new department.
1966—Wanda S. Chappell, chief nurse in the Blood Bank, comes up with a simple but ingenious method for separating blood platelets (the smallest blood cells) from blood plasma, so that the platelets can be used for transfusion to leukemia patients and the rest of the blood can be used by others, including patients undergoing open heart surgery.
1966—Additions to the Clinical Center (a library, cafeteria) are begun.
1968—Diagnostic radiologist John L. Doppman develops a method for locating the parathyroid, a group of glands (each about the size of a BB pellet) that regulates calcium metabolism.
July 2, 1969—A dedication ceremony was held to name the Clinical Center's Jack Masur Auditorium.
1970—The Blood Bank switches to an all-volunteer donor system, adding a test for hepatitis B surface antigen. Those two measures alone reduce the hepatitis rate from 30 percent before 1970 to about 11 percent after. Later, when it adds more sensitive tests for hepatitis B, hepatitis B virtually disappears as a problem in the Blood Bank.
1972—Clinical Pathology's Richard B. Friedman develops a computer program to teach students to diagnose illnesses by having the computer report symptoms, inform on test availability and cost, test results, and reactions to treatment.
1972—Blood Bank scientists develop a test for the antigen associated with hepatitis. The test will be used nationally.
1974—The Clinical Center Blood Bank develops a nationally recognized program in automated blood collection (apheresis), tissue typing (HLA), and an international reputation for research studies of red cell serology and hepatitis.
1976—The electronic medical information system—one of the nation's first—is introduced.
April 1977—Construction of the ambulatory care research facility was started.
September 1977—Medicine for the Layman, a series of health seminars for the public later named Medicine for the Public, is launched
November 1977—The Critical Care Medicine Department was established.
1977—The Blood Bank establishes therapeutic apheresis/exchange programs that for decades will improve the lifespan and welfare of patients with such illnesses as sickle cell disease, hyperlipidemia, and autoimmune disorders. It also establishes the first automated platelet-pheresis center, collecting platelets for transfusion from volunteer donors using automated instrumentation.
1980—The research hospital was renamed the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center, in honor of the former chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, who has actively supported biomedical research at NIH since 1937. (P.L. 96-518.)
1981—As part of the design for the new Ambulatory Care Research Facility, Clinical Pathology services (previously scattered) are brought under one roof—working together in one vast open room, except for specialized functions sequestered for safety purposes (such as the containment of radionuclides).
June 16, 1981—The first patient with the new disease, later to be named AIDS/HIV, is seen at the Clinical Center.
1981—Clinical research dietitians develop standards of care for the clinical nutrition service and devise diets with controlled intake of certain nutrients to support clinical research.
1982—A new surgical facility opens, with more space for equipment, larger operating suites, two viewing galleries, and better delivery systems. A surgical intensive care unit opens in conjunction with new surgical suites.
1982—Under Henry Masur, Critical Care Medicine plays a key role in managing treatment for the opportunistic infections that are the main threat to immuno-suppressed AIDS patients. The department becomes world-recognized in its field, first for treating Pneumocystis pneumonia and then for experimental treatments with patients in shock.
1983—Clinical Pathology creates an immunology service, reflecting growing demand for sophisticated antibody and cellular-level diagnostic services.
March 22, 1984—The first magnetic resonance imaging unit became operational for patient imaging.
October 1984—NCI's Radiation Oncology Building was dedicated.
1984—Clinical Center Blood Bank is renamed the Department of Transfusion Medicine (DTM) because its activities extend well beyond traditional blood banking. DTM achieves the first transmission of HIV (HTLV III) to a primate through transfusion and describes the HIV seronegative window.
April 13, 1985—Two cyclotrons were delivered to the underground facility operated by the Nuclear Medicine Department.
1986—As a charter member of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), the Clinical Center signs an agreement to become one of the first donor centers participating in the NMDP.
November 20, 1987—The Lipsett Amphitheater in the clinic was dedicated.
September 14, 1990—A 4-year-old patient with adenosine deaminate deficiency was the first to receive gene therapy treatment.
April 8, 1991—The Department of Transfusion Medicine opened its state-of-the-art facility.
1991—A thrombosis unit is established in Clinical Pathology's hematology service to help manage patients with coagulopathies. A virology section is redeveloped within Clinical Pathology's microbiology service. The original viral diagnostic unit had long since lapsed, for lack of clinical utility, but with the development of new diagnostic methodologies and new therapies, the need for such a service has become increasingly apparent.
June 1992—The A-wing addition was completed, adding NCI and NIAID labs focusing on AIDS research.
July 1993—The hematology/bone marrow unit opened to improve transplant procedures and develop gene therapy techniques.
May 1994—First multi-institute unit designed and staffed for children opened.
1995—The course “Introduction to the Principles and Practice of Clinical Research” is first offered. It provides education in the basics of safe, ethical, and efficient clinical research.
February 1996—Details on clinical research studies conducted at the Clinical Center are made available on the World Wide Web (http://clinicalstudies.info.nih.gov/), increasing opportunities for physicians and patient volunteers to participate in NIH clinical investigations.
November 1996—A Board of Governors was appointed by the Secretary of HHS, marking a new governing system for the Clinical Center.
July 1997—Transfusion Medicine Department launches a 3,000-square feet model core [cGMP] cell processing facility, created to meet increasing investigative needs for cell products used in research into new cellular therapies such as immunotherapy, gene therapy, stem cell transplantation, and pancreatic islet cell transplantation.
July 1997—To meet increasing investigative needs for cell products used in immunotherapy, gene therapy, and stem cell transplantation, a cell processing facility was created.
November 4, 1997—Vice President Al Gore and Senator Mark O. Hatfield attendgroundbreaking ceremonies for the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center, to include a new hospital and research laboratories, is scheduled to be completed in 2004.
1999—Clinical Pathology Department is renamed Department of Laboratory Medicine. A new laboratory information system is put in place for Laboratory Medicine, Transfusion Medicine, and the Pathology Lab.
1999—The Bench-to-Bedside awards program was established to speed translation of promising laboratory discoveries into new medical treatments by encouraging collaborations among basic scientists and clinical investigators.
2000—The NIDDK and the Clinical Center (in collaboration with Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Naval Medical Research Center, and the Diabetes Research Institute of the University of Miami) launch a new kidney, pancreas, and islet transplant program. The idea is to test novel therapies that may eliminate the need for the immunosuppressive drugs patients take to keep their bodies from rejecting new transplanted organs.
2000—Clinical Center launches a new Pain and Palliative Care Consult Service.
2000—Harvey Alter , Department of Transfusion Medicine, receives the Lasker Award “for pioneering work leading to the discovery of the virus that causes hepatitis C and the development of screening methods that reduced risk associated with transfusion-associated hepatitis in the United States from 30 percent in 1970 to virtually zero in 2000.” Alter, who is also elected to the National Academy of Sciences, shares the award with Chiron's Michael Houghton.
2000—The Imaging Sciences Program takes first steps toward filmless radiology, unveiling the pilot phase of its new Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) and Radiology Information System (RIS).
2001—A second bone marrow transplant unit opens to support NCI protocols.
2002—DTM establishes a model program for collecting blood from subjects with hereditary hemochromatosis. This program supplies 10% of the hospital's red cell needs.
October 29, 2002—Groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Edmond J. Safra Family Lodge at NIH. Located steps away from the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center, the lodge will provide a comfortable home away from home for the families and caretakers of Clinical Center patients.
2003—The Office of Clinical Research Training and Medical Education is established to help train the next generation of clinical researchers.
2004—As recommended by the NIH Director's Blue Ribbon Panel on the Future of Intramural Clinical Research, the former Clinical Center Board of Governors assumed a new and larger identity, becoming the NIH Advisory Board for Clinical Research. The Board will oversee all intramural clinical research, while continuing its oversight of Clinical Center resources, planning and operations.
2004—The Clinical Center formalizes an emergency preparedness partnership with Suburban Hospital and the National Naval Medical Center.
August 21, 2004—The new $32-million Clinical Research Information System goes live.
September 22, 2004—Dedication ceremony held for the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center. In attendance are former Sen. Mark O. Hatfield, DHHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, Sen. Paul Sarbanes, (D. MD) Sen. Paul Harkins, (D. Io) and Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R. Fla), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
2005—Radiologist Ronald M. Summers found that computer-aided software, in conjunction with a procedure commonly called virtual colonoscopy, can deliver results comparable to conventional colonoscopy for detecting the most worrisome types of polyps.
2005—Bioethics chief Ezekiel Emanuel co-authored a study suggesting that minority involvement is more a matter of access than attitude.
2005—The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine opens its clinical movement analysis lab, a joint venture with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
April 2, 2005—Patients are moved into the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center and the building becomes fully operational.
May 26, 2005—An opening ceremony is held for the Edmond J. Safra Family Lodge, offering a temporary residence for families and loved ones of adult patients receiving care at the NIH Clinical Center. The Lodge opens its doors to guests on June 1.
2005—Visitors to the Clinical Center include President George W. Bush and Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall. Bush came to discuss health-care alternatives. The royal couple came for a briefing on osteoporosis.
2006—the NIH Clinical Center Bench-to-Bedside program was extended to include intramural and extramural collaborations.
2006—Nursing and Patient Care Services initiated a collaboration with the Indian Health Service. The joint agenda is to increase clinical nursing research capabilities in the Indian Health Service.
2006—A study examining the feasibility of billing insurance companies for patient-care services rendered during clinical trial participation was completed. The NIH Advisory Board for Clinical Research recommended to the NIH Director that this option not be pursued at this time because of the nature of the CC's research portfolio, the relatively low projected revenue, and how collections may affect patient volunteers.
2006—The Clinical Center receives a 250-bed contingency hospital from Department of Health and Human Services in support of the Emergency Preparedness Partnership with Suburban Hospital and National Naval Medical Center. The contingency hospital comprises pre-positioned supplies and equipment ready for quick set-up within the Clinical Center.
2007—Training and education programs from the NIH Office of Intramural Research and the Clinical Center merged to form an expanded Clinical Center Office of Clinical Research Training and Medical Education.
2007—The first of 1,000 volunteers enrolled in a study led by the National Human Genome Research Institute to test the use of human genome sequencing in a clinical research study. The study will focus first on the genes connected to coronary heart disease and will follow participants for up to ten years. The Institute also opened an Immersive Virtual Environment Testing Area to conduct its first social and behavioral research students at the Clinical Center.
January 25, 2007—A ribbon-cutting ceremony is held for a new NIH metabolic clinical research unit that provides researchers from multiple institutes the opportunity to study obesity and related conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers. An important component of the NIH Strategic Plan for Obesity Research, the unit and work conducted there generates new knowledge regarding the physiology, prevention, and treatment of obesity.
2008—The Undiagnosed Diseases Program was established, led by the National Human Genome Research Institute, the NIH Office of Rare Diseases, and the Clinical Center.
2008—The Clinical Center's newest computed tomography scanner installed. It captures the image of an entire organ in only one rotation take a millisecond.
2008—The Biomedical Translational Research Information System is introduced. Ultimately, it will provide researchers easy access to clinical data derived from multiple sources.
2008—Clinical Center nurses undertake a multi-year project to define the clinical research domain of practice and lead the way in establishing it as a recognized nursing specialty practice area.
2008—An adaptation of the Clinical Center course “Introduction to the Principles and Practice of Clinical Research” was presented in Beijing.
2008—The Clinical Center began partnership with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the Department of Defense in which the Clinical Center will play a key role in clinical research studies involving military and civilian populations.
2009—Two new trans-NIH imaging resources were initiated, the Center for Interventional Oncology and the Center for Infectious Diseases Imaging.
2009—In July, BTRIS, the Biomedical Translational Research System, launched its NIH-wide intramural research data repository allowing investigators to view identified data from their active protocols. In December, intramural researchers were able to access de-identified data from clinical and research systems across the NIH intramural programs. BTRIS is designed to facilitate hypothesis generation, data gathering and analysis.
2009—The Pharmacy Department opens a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical development facility. Staff formulates and analyzes vaccines and medications not available from manufacturers. The section formulates and analyzes vaccines and medications not available from manufacturers. These products account for one-third of the drugs (including placebos and varying strengths) that the CC uses in its research protocols.
2009—Transfusion Medicine begins use of a prototype cell expansion system to automate bone marrow stomal cell expansion.
2009—Radiology and Imaging Sciences at the Clinical Center takes a significant step to further safeguard clinical research patients who are exposed to radiation during certain imaging tests while at the Clinical Center. CT and PET/CT equipment purchased by the Clinical Center will now be required to routinely record radiation dose exposure in a patient's hospital-based electronic medical record.
2009—Two Clinical Center course go global—the Introduction of the Principles and Practice of Clinical Research and Principles of Clinical Pharmacology were taken to China.
2009—President Barack Obama visits the Clinical Center “to talk about our nation's commitment to research.”
CC Legislative Chronology
July 1, 1944—Public Law 78-410, the Public Health Service Act, authorized establishment of the Clinical Center.
July 8, 1947—Under P.L. 80-165, research construction provisions of the Appropriations Act for FY 1948 provided funds "For the acquisition of a site, and the preparation of plans, specifications, and drawings, for additional research buildings and a 600-bed clinical research hospital and necessary accessory buildings related thereto to be used in general medical research."
Biographical Sketch of CC Director John I. Gallin, M.D., MACP
Dr. John Gallin was appointed director of the NIH Clinical Center in 1994. The Clinical Center serves the clinical research needs of 17 NIH institutes and is the largest clinical research hospital in the world. During his tenure, Dr. Gallin has overseen the design and construction of a new research hospital for the Clinical Center, the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center, which opened to patients in 2005; the establishment of a new curriculum for clinical research training that has trained more than 19,000 students globally; and development of new information systems for biomedical translational and clinical research.
While serving as CC director, Dr. Gallin has continued to be an active clinician and researcher. His primary research interest is in a rare hereditary immune disorder, chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). His laboratory described the genetic basis for several forms of CGD and has done pioneering research that has reduced life-threatening bacterial and fungal infections in CGD patients.
In 2009, the National Organization for Rare Disorders presented Dr. Gallin with the National Health Leadership Award. He was the 2006 recipient of the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award of the American College of Physicians for "his contribution to the advancement of clinical research, to the teaching structure, to the principles of patient care, and to overall productivity of hospital programs." Established in 1976, the Rosenthal awards are bestowed each year in two distinct categories—for contributions to improve clinical care in the field of internal medicine and for recognition of health care that improves clinical care or economics of care.
A New York native, Dr. Gallin attended public school in New Rochelle, New York, graduated cum laude from Amherst College, and earned an M.D. degree at Cornell University Medical College. After a medical internship and residency at New York University’s Bellevue Hospital Medical Center, he received postdoctoral training in basic and clinical research in infectious diseases at NIH from 1971 to 1974. He then went back to the New York University-Bellevue Medical Center as senior chief medical resident from 1974-1975 before returning to NIH.
In 1985, Dr. Gallin began a nine-year period as scientific director for intramural research activities at the National Allergy and Infectious Diseases. During this period, Dr. Gallin oversaw intramural activities for NIAID, including doubling the research budget in response to the AIDS epidemic, introduction of a modern informatics program to NIAID and revitalization of NIAIDs Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana. Dr. Gallin also was chief of Laboratory of Host Defenses, NIAID, from 1991-2003, and he continues as chief of the lab's clinical pathology section.
He has published more than 300 articles in scientific journals and has edited two textbooks—Inflammation, Basic Principles and Clinical Correlates (Lippincott, Williams, and Wilkins, 1999, now in 3rd edition) and Principles and Practices of Clinical Research (Academic Press, 2002, now in 2nd edition)
Dr. Gallin is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and he is a Master of the American College of Physicians.
Clinical Center Directors
| Name | In Office from | To |
|---|---|---|
| Jack Masur | 1948 1956 |
1951 1969 |
| John A. Trautman | 1951 | 1954 |
| Donald W. Patrick | 1954 | 1956 |
| Thomas C. Chalmers | 1970 | 1973 |
| Robert S. Gordon, Jr. | 1974 | 1975 |
| Mortimer B. Lipsett | 1976 | 1982 |
| John L. Decker | 1983 | 1990 |
| Saul Rosen (Acting) | 1990 | 1994 |
| John I. Gallin | May 1, 1994 | present |
Major Programs
As America's research hospital, the Clinical Center leads the global effort in training today's investigators and discovering tomorrow's cures.
The Clinical Center's mission is to provide a versatile clinical research environment enabling the NIH mission to improve human health by:
- Investigating the pathogenesis and natural history of disease
- Developing state-of-the-art diagnostic, preventive, and therapeutic interventions
- Training the next generation of clinical researchers
- Ensuring that clinical research is safe, efficient, and ethical
Major components: Anesthesia and Surgical Services; Bioethics; Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Clinical Research Informatics; Clinical Research Training and Medical Education; Communications, Patient Recruitment, and Public Liaison; Credentials Services; Critical Care Medicine; Edmond J. Safra Family Lodge; Facility Management; Financial Resource Management; Hospital Epidemiology; Housekeeping and Fabric Care; Hospitality Services; Internal Medicine Consults; Laboratory Medicine; Laboratory for Informatics Development; Management Analysis and Reporting; Materials Management; Medical Records; Nursing and Patient Care Services; Nutrition; Organizational Development; Pain and Palliative Care; Pharmacy; Purchasing and Contracts; Rehabilitation Medicine; Transfusion Medicine; Pediatric Consults; Protocol Services; Radiology and Imaging Sciences; Positron Emission Tomography; Social Work; Spiritual Ministry; Veterinary Care.
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