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NIH Clinical Center Tour Request

The NIH Clinical Center tour is designed for individuals or groups that are interested in learning more about how NIH improves human health and prevents disease. The tour is available for:

  • Individuals working in areas of biomedical research or scientific programs,
  • Graduate or undergraduate students who are studying biomedical research,
  • NIH employees, interns, postdoctoral fellows, and/or visiting fellows; and NIH patients or patient visitors.

The NIH Clinical Center is the world’s largest hospital entirely devoted to clinical research. This tour will focus on how the NIH Clinical Center makes it possible to perform the translation of laboratory discoveries into new approaches for diagnosing, treating and preventing disease. The tour will show highlights of the 870,000-square foot research center with its 200 inpatient beds and more than 1,600 laboratories conducting basic and clinical research.

Clinical Center Tours will be offered weekly on Wednesdays from 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Requests must be submitted at least 7 days in advance for U.S. persons or 30 days in advance for non-US persons.

Tour Restrictions

  • Customizable tours are not provided.
  • The NIH Visitor Center is not able to set-up additional scientific or staff member meetings on your behalf.
  • Tour groups may not exceed more than 10 attendees. Groups larger than 10 cannot be split into multiple groups.
  • Requesting a tour does not guarantee tour availability for your chosen date or time.
  • A valid government photo identification (REAL ID driver’s license and/or passport) is required for entry for all individuals ages 18 and above. Guests under the age of 18, without a photo ID must be signed in by an adult sponsor or chaperone from the visiting group.
  • Groups with children under the age of 17 are not permitted to tour the NIH Clinical Center.
  • The NIH does not accept third party tour requests, and resources will not be provided to for profit, commercial entities.

What to Know Before a Tour at NIH

Security at NIH

All visitors must go through NIH security protocols in order to be issued a visitor badge at the NIH Gateway Center for entry onto the Bethesda campus. Visit the Visitor Campus Access page to learn more regarding access locations and processes for visitors.

Important Resources for NIH Visitors

You may also take a brief virtual tour of the hospital.

A fuller interactive virtual tour of the whole NIH campus is available too.