The NIH is one of eight health agencies of the Public Health Service and is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The NIH is composed of 27 separate Institutes and Centers (ICs), each with its own mission of supporting biomedical research and training, in the intramural (here at the NIH) and/or extramural (at universities and research institutes world-wide) research communities. All but three ICs receive their funding directly from Congress and administer their own budgets.

The organizational structure of the NIH is both similar to and different from that of most universities. Universities are typically organized around schools and colleges (e.g. School of Medicine, School of Public Health) that are further organized into departments and units. The NIH consists of Institutes and Centers (ICs), not unlike the schools/colleges found in many academic institutions. All NIH faculty have a primary appointment in one IC; this IC provides space, funding and administrative support for the lab and is the “intellectual home” for all personnel in the lab. Like faculty at universities, NIH faculty can have adjunct/joint appointments in other ICs. In addition, there are formalized ways to facilitate interaction across ICs so that scientists and clinicians with common interests can easily interact and collaborate.

Most IC intramural programs are further organized into laboratories and branches. Originally the distinction was that branches had at least one clinical investigator, while labs contained only basic scientists – that has somewhat fallen by the wayside. Labs and branches are headed by lab/branch chiefs (who also run their own lab), and consist of 2 or more sections (headed by other senior investigators) and possibly 1 or more units (headed by tenure-track investigators).

Large labs and branches may have 10-12 Principal Investigators (PIs) in them but in general they contain 4-8. Each PI has a group of postdocs, technicians, staff scientists and administrative support personnel. This structure provides additional support and resources for graduate students; you should make an effort to meet the other scientists, trainees and support staff in your lab/branch and in your IC.  Graduate students can work with any tenure or tenure-tracked Principal Investigator in the NIH Intramural Research Program. 

NIH FACULTY