Founded in 1887, the National Institutes of Health ("NIH") today is one of the world's foremost medical research centers, and the Federal focal point for medical research in the U.S. The NIH, comprised of 27 separate Institutes and Centers, is one of eight health agencies of the Public Health Service which, in turn, is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is located on a university-like campus in Bethesda, Maryland, just north of Washington, DC.

Simply described, the goal of NIH research is to acquire new knowledge to help prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat disease and disability, from the rarest genetic disorder to the common cold. The NIH mission is to uncover new knowledge that will lead to better health for everyone. NIH works toward that mission by:

• conducting research in its own laboratories;
• supporting the research of non-Federal scientists in universities, medical schools, hospitals, and research institutions throughout the country and abroad;
• helping in the training of research investigators; and
• fostering communication of medical and health sciences information.

The National Cancer Institute ("NCI") is the largest of the institutes which make up the NIH. As its name suggests, it is responsible for biomedical research that relates to understanding the causes, treatment and prevention of cancer. The Clinical Genetics Branch ("CGB") is responsible for research related to the familial or genetic predisposition to the development of cancer. In particular, its mandate is to take advantage of the extraordinary new laboratory discoveries in the molecular biology of cancer, in order to improve the medical care and the lives of persons who are at increased genetic risk of malignant disease. CGB's motto is: "Saving lives by conquering cancer, through research in clinical cancer genetics." CGB is located in the part of NCI known as the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG).