Who Are the Scientists NIH Supports?
Scientific progress depends mainly on the scientist. About 35,000 principal investigators — working in every State and in several foreign countries, from every specialty in medicine, every biomedical discipline, and at every major university and medical school — receive NIH extramural funding to explore unknown areas of biomedical science. Supporting and conducting both NIH’s extramural and intramural programs are about 19,000 employees, more than 4,500 of whom hold professional or research doctorate degrees. The NIH staff includes intramural scientists, physicians, dentists, veterinarians, nurses, and laboratory, administrative, and support personnel, plus an ever-changing array of research scientists in training.
