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The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) was founded in 1962 to investigate human development throughout the entire life process, with a focus on understanding disabilities and important events that occur during pregnancy.
Since then, research conducted and funded by NICHD has helped save lives, improve wellbeing, and reduce societal costs associated with illness and disability.
Mission
NICHD’s mission is to lead research and training to understand human development, improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and optimize abilities for all.
NICHD Strategic Plan
The NICHD Strategic Plan 2025 offers updated strategies for achieving these goals that reflect progress in the scientific landscape and new opportunities for scientific discovery. These include advances in advanced imaging techniques, artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, computational biology, pharmacogenomics, and other methods.
The 2025 plan’s cross-cutting themes include reducing health disparities, reducing the impact of infectious disease, understanding the role of nutrition in promoting health throughout the lifespan, advancing global health, applying artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies across biomedical fields, and providing training and career development for the next generation of researchers.
