NIH 1998 Almanac/The Organization/NINDS/
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Important Events in NINDS History
1950--On August 15 President Truman signed P.L. 81-692, establishing the National
Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness.
1951--NINDB received its first budget of $1,232,253.
1953--The NINDB budget became a line item in the NIH budget.
1953-54--An intramural program of clinical investigation was initiated, including
medical neurology, surgical neurology, and electro-encephalography. Training programs in
neurology and ophthalmology were initiated.
1955--Basic science training grants were initiated.
1956--The intramural clinical investigations program was expanded to include work
in ophthalmology.
1957--Training programs in otolaryngology and pediatric neurology were begun.
Field investigations involving collaborative and cooperative clinical studies were
begun and the initial phase of the Collaborative Perinatal Project was started.
1960--The joint intramural basic research program of NINDB and NIMH was divided and
organized into two basic research laboratory programs.
1961--First program projects and clinical research centers in stroke and
communicative disorders were supported.
1962--Funds were appropriated for professional and technical information
assistance. Training grants in neurosurgery and neuroradiology were initiated.
1963--Developmental graduate training grants were initiated.
1965--A head injury research program was established.
1966--The stroke research program was expanded; additional grants for clinical
research centers were awarded. An antiepileptic drug testing program was begun.
1967--Vision outpatient research centers were established. A program of research in
neural control mechanisms and prostheses was initiated.
1968--The NINDS blindness program became the nucleus of the National Eye Institute.
The institute was renamed the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke.
1969--Research Building 36, dedicated by DHEW Secretary Robert H. Finch, was
occupied by NINDS and NIMH research laboratories.
1971--Programs in applied neurological research (epilepsy, head injury), infectious
diseases, and biometry were added to the Collaborative and Field Research Division.
1973--Two new communicative disorders programs were begun with establishment of a
section on communicative disorders in the Collaborative and Field Research Division, and
an intramural Laboratory of Neuro-Otolaryngology.
1974--Laboratories for neuroimmunology and neuropharmacology were established.
1975--NINDS was renamed the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative
Disorders and Stroke.
The institute reorganized into six units for intramural research, fundamental
neurosciences, communicative disorders, neurological disorders, stroke and trauma, and
extramural activities.
1976--Dr. D. Carleton Gajdusek, chief, Laboratory of Central Nervous System
Studies, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work on atypical slow
viruses.
1979--A neuroepidemiology section and a section of neurotoxicology were established
within the Intramural Research Program. NINCDS substantially expanded extramural support
of research studies using positron emission tomography.
1982--The institute’s Neurological Disorders Program was replaced by two new
program units: convulsive, developmental, and neuromuscular disorders and demyelinating,
atrophic, and dementing disorders.
1984--NINCDS established the Senator Jacob Javits Neuroscience Awards, which
provide research grant support for up to 7 years in the basic and clinical neurosciences
and communicative sciences.
A Laboratory of Neurobiology and a Laboratory of Experimental Neuropathology were
established within the Intramural Research Program.
1986--A Laboratory of Neural Regeneration and Implantation was established within
the Intramural Research Program.
1987--NINCDS programs were renamed divisions, reflecting major areas of research
interest: communicative and neurosensory disorders; convulsive, developmental, and
neuromuscular disorders; demyelinating, atrophic, and dementing disorders; fundamental
neurosciences; stroke and trauma; extramural activities; and intramural research.
A Clinical Neuroscience Branch was established within the Division of Intramural
Research.
1988--The communicative disorders program became the nucleus of the National
Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. NINCDS was renamed the National
Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
1989--On July 25 President Bush signed P.L. 101-58, declaring the 1990’s the
"Decade of the Brain."
1990--A Stroke Branch was established within the Division of Intramural Research.
