national institute on deafness and other communication disorders national institute on deafness and other communication disorders the national institute on deafness and other communication disorders (nidcd), a member of the u.s. national institutes of health, is mandated to conduct and support biomedical and behavioral research and research training in the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech, and language. the institute also conducts and supports research and research training related to disease prevention and health promotion; addresses special biomedical and behavioral problems associated with people who have communication impairments or disorders; and supports efforts to create devices which substitute for lost and impaired sensory and communication function. editing national institute on deafness and other communication disorders (nidcd)agency overviewformed1988 (1988)jurisdictionfederal government of the united statesagency executivedr. debara l. tucci, directorparent departmentdepartment of health and human servicesparent agencynational institutes of healthwebsitewww.nidcd.nih.gov on september 3, 2019, debara l. tucci became nidcd director. she is the first woman to be appointed to the role since the founding of the institution in 1988. differing from some other institutes, in 1999 the nidcd discontinued the multi-purpose research and training center funding mechanism (large center grants) for the entire institute focusing instead on single-project research awards (r01's). past directors past directors from 1988 - present portrait director took office left office jay moskowitz (acting) october 31, 1988 february 10, 1990 james b. snow, jr. february 11, 1990 september 15, 1997 james f. battey, jr. february 10, 1998 may 31, 2018 judith a. cooper (acting) june 1, 2018 september 2, 2019 debara l. tucci september 3, 2019 present