Center for Information Technology


The Center for Information Technology is one of the 27 institutes and centers that compose the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a cabinet-level department of the Executive Branch of the United States Federal Government. Originating in 1954 as a central processing facility in the NIH Office of the Director, the Division of Computer Research and Technology was established in 1964, merging in 1998 with the NIH Office of the CIO and the NIH Office of Research Services Telecommunications Branch to form a new organization, the CIT.

Mission

CIT's provides and manages information technology and advances computational scientific development. CIT supports NIH and other Federal research and management programs with administrative and scientific computing. In addition to providing bioinformatics support and scientific tools and resources, CIT provides enterprise technological and computational support for the NIH community; services include networking, telecommunications, application development and hosting services, technical support, computer training, IT acquisition, and IT security.
CIT’s activities include the following:
Key highlights of CIT are listed at the following link:
http://www.nih.gov/about/almanac/organization/CIT.htm#events

Past Directors

Past NIH CIOs

In January 2008, in an effort to foster efficiencies, the Office of the Chief Information Officer was established in the NIH Office of the Director. The functions of the CIO, formerly part of NIH Center for Information Technology, were transferred from CIT to the new OCIO. OCIO develops IT-related strategy, services, and policy to ensure that all NIH IT infrastructure is benchmarked against industry standards. CIT functions as the operating arm of the CIO, providing IT expertise for OCIO program activities and providing enterprise IT services and research and administrative support to all of NIH.
CIT consists of an Office of the Director and five major programs: Division of Computational Bioscience, Division of Customer Support, Division of Computer System Services, Division of Enterprise and Custom Applications, and Division of Network Systems and Telecommunications.
The CIT Office of the Director plans, directs, coordinates, and evaluates the Center's programs, policies, and procedures and provides analysis and guidance in the development of systems for the use of IT techniques and equipment in support of NIH programs. The OD includes the Executive Office, which provides CIT administrative and business management services in support of CIT programs. The EO provides oversight of CIT’s administrative policies and procedures; provides financial management, including development and oversight of the CIT budget; advises on human resources planning and management; and performs strategic planning, operational planning, and performance measurement.

Office of the Director (OD)

DCB is a research and development organization that provides scientific and technical expertise in computational science and engineering to support biomedical research activities at the NIH, including the following:
DCSS supports centrally owned or administered computing resources for NIH enterprises use, ensuring interoperability among those resources and between them and other computing facilities owned by customer organizations. Activities include the following:
DCS provides centralized, integrated computer support services to the NIH computing community, including the following:
DECA supports the NIH enterprise business process through the development and management of transaction and decision-support environments for administrative and business applications of NIH, such as procurement, budget, accounting, and human resource activities, as well as systems that support extramural and intramural business processes. Activities include the following:
DNST directs the support of network infrastructure and services for the NIH-wide area network to facilitate the use of scientific, administrative, and other business applications. Activities include the following: