This paper provides an overview of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), tracing its origins from the 1985 Health Research Extension Act through its formal designation as an NIH institute in 1993. The paper describes NINR's mission to promote health and prevent disease across the lifespan, outlines its strategic plan priorities—including health disparities, quality of life, and end-of-life research—and profiles its leadership. It also examines the organizational structure of NINR, including its extramural and intramural research divisions, and summarizes the range of grants, fellowships, and career development awards the institute offers to advance nursing science.
On November 10, 1985, overriding a presidential veto, Public Law 99-158 — the Health Research Extension Act — became law. Among its many provisions, the law authorized the establishment of the National Center for Nursing Research (NCNR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In 1986, a series of continuing resolutions (P.L. 99-500, P.L. 99-599) established NCNR as a separate NIH appropriation. On June 10, 1993, NCNR was designated as an NIH institute under a provision in the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, and four days later the Secretary of Health and Human Services signed the Federal Register establishing the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR).
The main offices of the NINR are located in Bethesda, Maryland. According to the NIH Almanac, NINR's mission is "to promote and improve the health of individuals, families, communities, and populations. NINR supports and conducts clinical and basic research and research training on health and illness across the lifespan. NINR looks to extend nursing science by integrating the biological and behavioral sciences, employing new technologies to research questions, improving research methods, and developing the scientists of the future" (The NIH Almanac, 2011).
The NINR Strategic Plan emphasizes research in promoting health and preventing disease, improving quality of life through self-management, symptom management, and caregiving, eliminating health disparities, and taking the lead in end-of-life research. The plan also states four objectives aimed at advancing science: integrating biological and behavioral science, adopting, adapting, and generating new technologies, improving methods for future scientific discoveries, and developing scientists for today and tomorrow. The Strategic Plan recognizes that the roles of the patient, the family, formal and informal caregivers, and the community are key in promoting health and managing disease.
The director of the NINR, Dr. Patricia Grady, was appointed on April 3, 1995. An alumna of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Dr. Grady received her master's degree from the University of Maryland's School of Nursing and a doctorate in physiology from its School of Medicine. Joining NIH in 1988 as an extramural research program administrator, her research focused on stroke and brain imaging. Prior to joining NIH, she held several academic positions and served concurrently on the faculties of the University of Maryland School of Nursing and School of Medicine. She has published extensively and serves as an editorial board member of major stroke journals.
"Lifespan health, disparities, and end-of-life research"
"Fellowships, grants, and career development awards"
"Extramural and intramural divisions and offices"
The activities performed by the NINR are essential to furthering our understanding of a wide spectrum of biological mechanisms, their symptoms and effects on patients, and how patients respond to interventions. NINR commemorates 25 years of nursing research, having been founded on the belief that nursing science could contribute in new and distinctive ways to the health care sciences. The organization remains dedicated to improving the health of the nation's people.
You’re 53% through this paper. Sign up to read the remaining 3 sections.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.