Throughout the 1940s, as the National Institutes of Health institutes launched investigations of the big killers of the day, it became clear that the NIH needed a place to conduct research on patients. In 1944, Public Law 78-410, the Public Health Service Act authorized the establishment of the NIH Clinical Center, and the hospital opened its doors in July 1953.
Since then, the Clinical Center has gone through many expansions and changes, but remains steadfastly true to our mission to provide a model environment for clinical research, patient care and training future generations of clinician scientists.
The Clinical Center now consists of two main facilities.
The original Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center is a 14-story, 2.5-million-square-feet building made from seven million bricks, with more than 5,000 rooms, nine miles of corridor, 15 outpatient clinics and a Department of Laboratory Medicine housed in a space the size of a football field.
The 870,000-square-foot Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center has 200 inpatient beds and 93 day-hospital stations. Groundbreaking for the CRC was in November 1997, and dedication ceremonies were Sept. 22, 2004.
New construction projects now underway will further enhance research capabilities and the patient experience of the Clinical Center. Groundbreaking for a new Surgery Radiology and Lab Medicine wing occurred on May 16, 2023. The construction work is expected to finish in 2029.
Additional Reading
- 70 Acres of Science - The NIH Moves to Bethesda
- "Revolutionary Center for Medical Research Dedicated" - The New York Times (July 3, 1953)
- "Medical Researchers and Patients Battle Disease in Giant New Washington Center" - The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution (July 18, 1953)
- "Last Best Hope" - Washingtonian (September 1997)
- "What's Wrong with Jessica" - Washingtonian (May 1998)
- Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center (2004)
- NIH Clinical Center Receives the Lasker-Bloomberg Award for Public Service (2011)
- Clinical Center News 60th Anniversary Edition (2013)
- President Obama Speaks on the Fight Against Ebola (2014)
In 2022, at a Clinical Center Research Hospital Board meeting, past Clinical Center Director Dr. John Gallin provides an overview of past and present research at the hospital.