Over the last two centuries, a series of severe health threats prompted the American government to build a layered sword-and-shield of agencies to protect the public from preventable harm and to advance its well-being.
These successive crises exposed serious vulnerabilities in the nation’s defenses, leading to incremental reforms that built federal health institutions in multi-pronged layers. Each piece of today’s interconnected systems serves complementary roles in the public health machine; the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supports scientific research; the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) evaluates the safety and effectiveness of medical products; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) monitors and responds to threats in real time; and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) oversees and coordinates them. As these structures took shape, they brought waves of research, innovation, and lifesaving changes, from safer food, water, and drugs to increased disease surveillance, prevention, and treatment.
