History Links
Building the Mark O. Hatfield CRC
Lasker~Bloomberg Award for Public Service (2011)
Links to Other Sources of NIH History
Medical Milestones - Clinical Center Firsts
July 6, 2003 marks the 50th anniversary of the first patient admission to the NIH Clinical Center. Press clippings from that day heralded a state-of-the-art medical facility with unique research capabilities and a commitment to improving the nation's health. Oveta Culp Hobby, the Secretary of Welfare, remarked, "We are now carrying on in the United States the most intensive and widespread research attack on human disease that the world has ever seen." Fifty years later, the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center remains a national focal point for clinical research.
Today we celebrate the patients and staff who have helped to make the Clinical Center a place of compassionate care and extraordinary scientific achievement. The Clinical Center is more than a large brick building. Throughout the years, dedicated scientists partnering with remarkable patients and devoted staff have created the perfect environment for long-term clinical research studies. As we pause to look at the past, our many accomplishments remind us of the potential for the future.
Thank you for making the Clinical Center a special place.
John I. Gallin, M.D., director of the NIH Clinical Center, July 9, 2003