Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 7, 1601-1606, Copyright © 1987 by Society for Neuroscience
The impact of the NINCDS on the neurosciences: an essay written for the centennial of the NIH
DB Tower
This essay, written as a contribution to the June 1987 participation by the
NINCDS in the celebration of the centennial of the NIH (dated from the
founding of the Hygienic Laboratory at Staten Island in 1887), discusses
the impact of the NINDB/NINCDS on the neurosciences. Contrasts are drawn
with the status of basic and clinical neurosciences in the late 19th
century and prior to 1950, when the NINDB was established. This impact has
involved its role as advocate and focal point for the support of research
and research training in the neurosciences; the training of research and
academic personnel and the funding of research projects, both significant
factors in the postwar proliferation of methods and technologies; and the
catalyzing of the steady progress in scientific knowledge, as reflected in
examples from various facets of the programs of the neurological institute,
in a continuum from the very basic and fundamental to the very clinical and
pathological neurosciences.