NIH Record Marks 70th Anniversary

When a record goes platinum, that means it has sold at least 1 million copies. Platinum is also what folks, at least in the U.K., use to mark a 70th anniversary.

On May 20, 1949, the NIH Record debuted on campus. It has been published continuously since then, a product of the Office of the Director’s Office of Communications and Public Liaison.

For 70 years, the newsletter has had the privilege of telling NIH stories about itself, a biweekly snapshot of the progress of medical research at its leading edge.

The best novels, they say, show and do not tell. You can pick a copy of the Record from any era (by going to https://nihrecord.nih.gov/past-issues) and, in an instant, glean a sense of a vibrant, ambitious, collegial, accomplished and proud institution.

There may not be a “wow” in every issue, but there is certainly a “whew”—there’s a lot going on here, an extremely talented workforce and a staggering variety of interests, both at work and at leisure.

The many editors and writers from both OD and all of the institutes and centers who have provided Record content have made this journey one issue at a time, not with the explicit goal of telling good and hopeful news, even if that is what, in sum, it has amounted to.

When you get the job of telling NIH about itself, you don’t have a choice. The news is almost always good. And so, we hope, is the messenger.