1940s

July 1, 1944
Public Law 78-410, the Public Health Service Act, authorized establishment of the Clinical Center.

July 8, 1947
Under Public Law 80-165, research construction provisions of the Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 1948 provided funds "For the acquisition of a site, and the preparation of plans, specifications and drawings, for additional research buildings and a 600-bed clinical research hospital and necessary accessory buildings related thereto to be used in general medical research…."

November 1948
Construction of the Clinical Center was started.

1950s

June 22, 1951
The cornerstone ceremony was officiated by Oscar R. Ewing, Federal Security Administrator. President Harry S. Truman was the honored guest.

July 2, 1953
Department of Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Oveta Culp Hobby dedicated the Clinical Center.

July 6, 1953
The first patient was admitted to the Clinical Center.

1980s

December 12, 1980
Senate Joint Resolution 213 designated the Clinical Center as the "Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health."

October 22, 1981
The ambulatory care research facility was dedicated. The research hospital was renamed the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center.

September 20, 1982
The National Institute of Aging's Laboratory of Neurosciences was dedicated.

March 22, 1984
The first magnetic resonance imaging unit became operational for patient imaging.

October 1984
The National Cancer Institute's Radiation Oncology building was dedicated.

April 13, 1985
The first two cyclotrons were delivered to the underground facility operated by the Nuclear Medicine Department.

November 20, 1987
The Lipsett Amphitheater was dedicated.

1990s

September 14, 1990
A 4-year-old patient with adenosine deaminate deficiency was the first to receive gene therapy treatment.

April 8, 1991
The Department of Transfusion Medicine opened its state-of-the-art facility.

June 1992
The A-wing addition was completed, adding National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases labs focusing on AIDS research.

July 1993
The hematology/bone marrow unit opened to improve transplant procedures and develop gene therapy techniques.

May 1994
The first multi-Institute unit designed and staffed for children opened.

1996

February 1996
Details on clinical research studies conducted at the Clinical Center were made available on the World Wide Web (http://clinicalstudies.info.nih.gov), increasing opportunities for physicians to participate in NIH clinical investigations.

November 4, 1997 Former Oregon Senator Mark O. Hatfield speaking at the ceremonies for the ground breaking of the Clinical Research Center named in his honor.

October 1996
The Secretary of Health and Human Services, marking a new governing system for the Clinical Center, appointed a Board of Governors.

1997

July 1997
To meet increasing investigative needs for cell products used in immunotherapy, gene therapy and stem cell transplantation, a cell processing facility was created.

2000s

2004

July 9, 2004
The NIH Clinical Center marks its 50th anniversary.

July 31, 2004
CRIS, the Clinical Research Information System (CRIS), designed to replace the current Medical Information System, is launched.

September 22, 2004
Dedication ceremony held for the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center.

October 2004
CRIS goes “live.” Activation brings a bigger, better electronic hospital system.

2005

April
Current patients move to the new Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center April 2. The facility houses improved environments both for clinical research and for patient care.

April
On April 3, a Vermont resident devoted to helping others becomes the first patient admitted to the Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center.

June
Dedicated on May 26, The Edmond J. Safra Family Lodge opens. Its 34 guest rooms provide a comforting home away from home for families and caregivers of Clinical Center patients who come to NIH to participate in clinical research.

2006

June
Members of the Department of Laboratory Medicine’s microbiology service collaborate with NIAID staff to discover and name a new bacterium. The bacterium is a novel member of the Acetobacteraceae family. This prevalent family of bacteria had not been associated with human disease.

2007

May
The Clinical Center enrolls its first patient in the human genome sequencing study—the first of 1,000 participants to enroll in a study led by NHGRI to test the use of human genome sequencing in a clinical research setting. The study uses DNA sequencing to learn whether tiny changes in selected genes indicate predisposition to or onset of common diseases.

June
State-of-the art metabolic clinical research unit opens, enabling researchers from across NIH to study factors that contribute to obesity and associated diseases.

2008

May
Undiagnosed Diseases Program is launched, bringing patients to the Clinical Center who seek renewed hope for puzzling, often devastating, health conditions.

June
The Department of Transfusion Medicine (DTM) dedicates the Charles S. Carter Cellular Therapy Laboratory within their Cell Processing Section (CPS).

November
NIH clinician-scientists take the Clinical Center’s course, “Introduction to the Principles and Practice of Clinical Research,” to Beijing, China, providing new opportunities for training in clinical research.

2009

March
Barcode technology is initiated to enhance patient safety and improve research specimen collection.

May
Center for Interventional Oncology created—a partnership between Radiology and Imaging Sciences and both The National Cancer Institute and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for the Center for Interventional Oncology. The Center will investigate how imaging technology can diagnose and treat localized cancers in ways that are precisely targeted and minimally or non-invasive.

July
BTRIS, the Biomedical Translational Research Information System activated. The launch of the NIH-wide research data repository allows principal investigators with active protocols to view their patients’ identified data from the Clinical Center’s Clinical Research Information System, the Clinical Research Information Management System of NIAID, and the NIAAA database. By September NIH researchers will be able to access de-identified patient data from the same systems.

September
Radiology and Imaging Sciences teams with National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the Center for Infectious Disease Imaging. This trans-NIH partnership will use state-of-the-art imaging methods to combat public health threats such as influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), poxviruses, and other emerging pathogens.

2010

January
State-of-the-art pharmaceutical development facility opens to formulate candidate drugs.

April
Seven-bed Special Clinical Studies Unit opens, with advanced isolation and extended-stay capabilities.

June
Edmond J. Safra Family Lodge celebrates its fifth anniversary.