From its earliest beginnings, when Dr. Joseph J. Kinyoun set up a one-room laboratory in the Marine Hospital on Staten Island, to the advanced research and care provided in the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center today, the NIH has pursued an overriding goal to cure and prevent disease in the human body. NIH contributions to medical advances over the past century have led to curative treatments for many crippling and life-threatening diseases, extending the life expectancy in this country by 30 years.  Cracking the genetic code, ongoing advances in DNA technology and revolutionary new methods of diagnosis and treatment promise to further lengthen and improve the quality of human life in ways only imagined.