Which federal agency funds and conducts biomedical research?

• A. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• B. Food and Drug Administration
• C. National Institutes of Health
• D. National Science Foundation

Answer: (B)

Biomedicine is primarily funded and conducted by the National Institutes of Health. It operates its own intramural laboratories and also supports researchers nationwide through competitive grants to universities and medical centers, spanning basic through translational and clinical work. The FDA’s main role is regulatory—ensuring safety and efficacy of drugs, devices, and vaccines—rather than running a large-scale biomedical research program. The CDC focuses on public health surveillance and research to inform policy and practice, but it isn’t the main source of biomedical research funding or intramural work. The National Science Foundation funds a broad range of science and engineering, including biology, but does not run the principal biomedical research programs in the way NIH does.