The National Institutes of Health (NIH) was founded in 1887. The NIH is today one of the world's foremost medical research centers, and the Federal focal point for medical research in the United States. The NIH, comprising 27 separate Institutes and Centers, is one of eight health agencies of the Public Health Service which, in turn, is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Simply described, the goal of NIH research is to acquire new knowledge to help prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat disease and disability, from the rarest genetic disorder to the common cold. The NIH mission is to uncover new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone. NIH works toward that mission by: conducting research in its own laboratories; supporting the research of non-Federal scientists in universities, medical schools, hospitals, and research institutions throughout the country and abroad; helping in the training of research investigators; and fostering communication of medical and health sciences information.
NIH NIDDK OMHRC Student Internship Program (SIP) was created by the Office of Minority Health Research Coordination (OMHRC) in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). NIDDK is NIH’s fifth largest Institute.
Undergraduate Summer Research Program for Underrepresented Minorities.
This program is specific to those that are underrepresented
minorities: African American, Hispanic American,
Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiians,
and other Pacific Islanders. Successful applicants will
join one of NIDDK’s research laboratories in Bethesda,
Maryland, or Phoenix, Arizona, for ten weeks beginning
in June through the first week of August.
At the end of the summer, students participate in
the NIH Summer Research Program Poster Day. This
provides an opportunity for students to present their
work before the NIH scientific community. Students
are also expected to participate in meetings and
seminars in their individual laboratories.
Research performed covers an extraordinarily
diverse area but is unified by a commitment to excellence
in both basic and clinical investigation. This
is an opportunity to gain experience in the use of
emerging technologies and work with some of the
leading researchers in modern molecular biology,
developmental biology, structural biology, including
x-ray crystallography and NMR, cell biology, and
pharmacology.
PECRB in Phoenix, Arizona, conducts studies on the
Pima Indians, a population with an extraordinarily
high incidence of diabetes and obesity. The scientific
mission of the PECRB is to determine the etiology
of type 2 diabetes mellitus as it occurs among Pima
Indians of Arizona.