The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) mission is to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.

The goals of the agency are:

• to foster fundamental creative discoveries, innovative research strategies, and their applications as a basis for ultimately protecting and improving health;
• to develop, maintain, and renew scientific human and physical resources that will ensure the Nation's capability to prevent disease;
• to expand the knowledge base in medical and associated sciences in order to enhance the Nation's economic well-being and ensure a continued high return on the public investment in research; and
• to exemplify and promote the highest level of scientific integrity, public accountability, and social responsibility in the conduct of science.

Learn more about our mission, our people, the patients who partner with us, and what drives us to improve health and fight disease in this new video about NIH and the important lifesaving work we do. This is our story.

Do you have a story idea for us? Do you want to submit a guest blog? If it's about equity, diversity, or inclusion, please submit to edi.stories@nih.gov.

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