DIR Home

Eleven research programs comprised of roughly 79 units and sections constitute the Division of Intramural Research (DIR) of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and include a total of 79 tenured and tenure-track investigators, with a total administrative and staff complement of approximately 1220.

To ensure the birth of healthy babies, to ensure the health of infants who develop into adulthood, and to optimize the health of women, the DIR focuses its research effort on the acquisition of information that will enhance our understanding of the biology of development and reproduction. The research program emphasizes the importance of fundamental investigations into the physics, chemistry, and biology of cells, their component parts, and the processes that govern and regulate their function. As part of their investigative focus, the scientific researchers of the DIR accord primary importance to the transmission of new information to future generations of scientists.

Location

The majority of the DIR laboratories are located on the NIH campus in Bethesda, and nearby in Rockville, Maryland. An additional research facility is located in Poolesville, Maryland. The research program in Perinatal Research and Obstetrics is based in Detroit, Michigan.