The Director of the NIH is Dr. Harold Varmus . By federal legislation, the NIH is composed of 24 Institutes and Centers. Each IC pursues its mission by conducting research at the NIH through an intramural program and by sponsoring research at universities through an extramural program. The Director of each IC receives advice and guidance from several sources. Among these are the senior intramural staff and a national advisory council established by law.
Workshops can be a joint effort of both the intramural and extramural communities.
In another mode, an amount of money may be set aside for this research by the IC's. However most research applications are investigator initiated. Extramural research can be funded in several ways. The most common mechanism is the grant, which is a form of research assistance. Another mechanism is the contract, which is a type of procurement.