Congress has renamed the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health in honor of Eunice Kennedy Shriver for her essential contribution to the Institute's founding. Established in 1963, the Institute is now called the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

In the early 1960s, Mrs Shriver urged her brother, President John F. Kennedy, to establish an institute that would conduct research on children's health and human development. She later worked with House and Senate leaders to help ensure passage of the legislation that would make the institute a reality. The NICHD sponsors research on development before and after birth; maternal, child, and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. An important focus of the NICHD is expanding the evidence base in neonatology through programs such as the NICHD Cochrane Neonatal Review Group and the NICHD Neonatal Research Network.

For more information, visit the Institute's Web site at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/.