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Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-102

§283c Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research

Title 42 › CHAPTER 6A — PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER III — NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES › Part A — National Institutes of Health › § 283c

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

Creates an Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research inside the NIH Director’s office. The office must be led by a director who the NIH Director appoints. The office must coordinate NIH research about how human behavior affects the development, treatment, and prevention of medical conditions. It must pick behavioral and social science projects and work with the NIH institutes to run them. Examples include research on teen pregnancy, infant mortality, violent behavior, suicide, and homelessness. It does not cover neurobiological studies or studies that watch behavior only to measure cellular or molecular activity.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §283c

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)There is established within the Office of the Director of NIH an office to be known as the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (in this section referred to as the “Office”). The Office shall be headed by a director, who shall be appointed by the Director of NIH.
(b)(1)With respect to research on the relationship between human behavior and the development, treatment, and prevention of medical conditions, the Director of the Office shall—
(A)coordinate research conducted or supported by the agencies of the National Institutes of Health; and
(B)identify projects of behavioral and social sciences research that should be conducted or supported by the national research institutes, and develop such projects in cooperation with such institutes.
(2)Research authorized under paragraph (1) includes research on teen pregnancy, infant mortality, violent behavior, suicide, and homelessness. Such research does not include neurobiological research, or research in which the behavior of an organism is observed for the purpose of determining activity at the cellular or molecular level.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Pub. L. 103–43, title II, § 203(c),
June 10, 1993, 107 Stat. 146, provided that: “The amendment described in subsection (a) [enacting this section] is made upon the date of the enactment of this Act [
June 10, 1993] and takes effect
July 1, 1993. Subsection (b) [107 Stat. 145] takes effect on such date.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 283c

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102