NIH GOV

Credit: Donny Bliss/NIH

In 2021, NIH launched the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative, a nationwide research program, to fully understand, diagnose, and treat Long COVID. We continue to learn more about this condition, in which some people experience a variety of symptoms for weeks, months, or even years after infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. But we’re still working to understand the underlying reasons why people develop Long COVID, who is most likely to get it, and how best to treat or prevent it.

Karikó and Weissman discovered how to slightly modify mRNA to avoid an inflammatory response making the mRNA vaccines possible. Credit: Donny Bliss/NIH

Caption: A new measure of immunity called immune resilience is helping researchers find clues as to why some people remain healthier even in the face of varied inflammatory stressors. Credit: Modified from Shutterstock/Ground Picture

Do you feel as if you or perhaps your family members are constantly coming down with illnesses that drag on longer than they should? Or, maybe you’re one of those lucky people who rarely becomes ill and, if you do, recovers faster than others.

It was my pleasure to interact with several members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team during their recent visit to NIH. While on our Bethesda campus, team members met with select researchers and leadership from the NIH Vaccine Research Center and the NIH Clinical Center. This photo shows Ashish Jha (r), the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, while addressing staff during a meeting in the NIH Clinical Center. Tara Schwetz (l), NIH’s acting principal deputy director, is seated next to me. The visit took place on the afternoon of March 23. Credit: NIH

One family of RECOVER research participants helping to answer questions about Long COVID. Credit: RECOVER

“I connected with RECOVER to be a part of the answers that I was looking for when I was at my worst.” Long COVID patient and RECOVER representative, Nitza Rochez (Bronx, NY)

People, like Nitza Rochez, who are living with Long COVID—the wide-ranging health issues that can follow an infection with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19—experience disabling symptoms with significant physical, emotional and financial consequences.

It was an honor to take part last week in a special NIH program to bid Dr. Anthony Fauci farewell and wish him the very best as he prepares to step down this month as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). During this two-hour program, Tony reflected on his 54-year career of public service, advising seven U.S. presidents, and following the science through several major infectious disease outbreaks, from HIV to Ebola to COVID-19.

Caption: Global partnerships fostered by NIH’s Fogarty International Center speed translation of scientific discoveries into lifesaving biomedical products. Credit: Gabe Bienczycki, PATH, Seattle

Efforts over the past few years to end the COVID-19 pandemic clearly reveal how global health impacts individual wellbeing and national security. At NIH, the Fogarty International Center helps the other institutes become engaged with global health research, which investigates the dual burden of infectious disease and non-communicable disease.

Caption: Messenger RNA (mRNA)– nanoparticle vaccine encoding hemagglutinin antigens (H with number) from all 20 known influenza subtypes.

Caption: A USB flash drive (front) next to the 3D-printed miniature ventilator (back). Credit: William Pritchard, Clinical Center, NIH

Here at the NIH Clinical Center, we are proud to be considered a world-renowned research hospital that provides hope through pioneering clinical research to improve human health. But what you may not know is that our doctors are constantly partnering with public and private sectors to come up with innovative technologies that will help to advance health outcomes.

Credit: Shutterstock/Rawpixel.com

It’s good for our health to eat right, exercise, and get plenty of rest. Still, many other things contribute to our sense of wellbeing, including making it a point to practice gratitude whenever we can. With this in mind, I can’t think of a better time than Thanksgiving to recognize just a few of the many reasons that I—and everyone who believes in the mission of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—have to be grateful.