national institute on aging national institute on aging the national institute on aging (nia) is a division of the u.s. national institutes of health (nih), located in bethesda, maryland. the nia itself is headquartered in baltimore, maryland. national institute on aging (nia)agency overviewjurisdictionfederal government of the united statesagency executivedr. richard j. hodes, directorparent departmentdepartment of health and human servicesparent agencynational institutes of healthwebsitewww.nia.nih.gov the nia leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life. in 1974, under public law 93-296, congress granted authority to form nia to provide leadership in aging research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs relevant to aging and older people. in january 2011, president obama signed into law the national alzheimer’s project act, designating the nia as the primary federal agency on alzheimer's disease research. nia is led by director, richard j. hodes, m.d, and acting deputy director melinda kelley, m.d. past directors past directors from 1975 - present portrait director took office left office norman kretchmer (acting) october 1974 july 1975 richard c. greulich (acting) july 1975 april 1976 robert n. butler may 1, 1976 july 1982 robert l. ringler july 16, 1982 june 30, 1983 t. franklin williams july 1, 1983 july 31, 1991 gene d. cohen (acting) august 1, 1991 may 31, 1993 richard j. hodes june 1, 1993 present mission nia's mission is to improve the health and well-being of older americans through research, and specifically to: support and conduct high-quality research on: aging processes age-related diseases special problems and needs of the aged train and develop highly skilled research scientists from all population groups. develop and maintain state-of-the-art resources to accelerate research progress. disseminate information and communicate with the public and interested groups on health and research advances and on new directions for research. programs nia sponsors research on aging through extramural and intramural programs. the extramural program funds research and training at universities, hospitals, medical centers, and other public and private organizations nationwide. one such example is the alzheimer’s disease research centers (adrcs). as of 2022, the nia funds over 30 centers at medical institutions throughout the united states. the intramural program conducts basic and clinical research in baltimore, maryland, and on the nih campus in bethesda, maryland.