Established by Congress as the National Foundation for Biomedical Research, the Foundation was incorporated in 1996 as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that raises private funding and manages public-private partnerships to support NIH’s mission.
In 1999, the Foundation’s name was changed to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) to reflect its purpose more accurately which is to support the mission of the NIH to develop new knowledge through biomedical research. It has an independent board of directors of eminent scientists and pharmaceutical industry and philanthropy representatives. [1, 2]
In 1997 the foundation launched Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP) pilot program, which grew out of a realisation that the “medical and research communities are not producing clinical investigators at a sufficient rate to support the nation’s health needs”. Students “learn about the discovery and research process that may lead to better ways to prevent, diagnose and cure diseases”.
The founation was also involved with genomics and biomedical engineering, and on November 19, 1998, the foundation helped Fauci’s NIAD celebrat 50 years an important initiative as “infectious diseases are the world’s leading cause of mortality and the third leading cause of death in the United States.”