Title 42 › CHAPTER 6A — PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER III — NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES › Part C — Specific Provisions Respecting National Research Institutes › subpart 16 — national institute of mental health › § 285p
The Institute must run and fund medical and behavior research, train researchers, study health services, and share health information about mental illness — why it happens, how to diagnose and treat it, and how to prevent and control it. Its research must include neuroscience and aim to improve treatment and prevention, promote mental health, and study the psychological, social, and legal factors that affect behavior. The Director must work with the head of SAMHSA to shape services research and to get the results out to health workers and the public. The Director must also make and publish information about the causes and prevention of suicide, especially for people under 24, and make that information widely available. The Director must name an Associate Director for Special Populations. That person must plan and coordinate policies and programs to focus on the mental health needs of women and minority groups, fund basic and applied social and behavioral studies about their problems, study how discrimination affects people and institutions (including majority groups), support research to remove institutional discrimination, and push for more attention to these groups in training, services, and research.
Full Legal Text
The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Legislative History
Reference
Citation
42 U.S.C. § 285p
Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110