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Health & Medicine

The body, disease, treatment and public health

Aerial view of the NIH Clinical Center, Building 10, on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the United States federal agency for medical and behavioral research. Based in Bethesda, Maryland, it is part of the Department of Health and Human Services and today includes 27 institutes and centers that carry out research directly and fund it at universities and hospitals around the country. History

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The National Institutes of Health is the U.S. federal agency in Bethesda, Maryland that conducts and funds biomedical research through 27 institutes and centers.

The Novartis Pavillon on the Novartis Campus in Basel, Switzerland

Novartis

Novartis AG is a Swiss pharmaceutical company, headquartered in Basel, that researches, makes and sells prescription medicines. It was created on December 20, 1996, when Ciba-Geigy AG and Sandoz AG merged into one new company. Novartis reported net sales from continuing operations of $54.5 billion for 2025, and its website gives a workforce of about

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Novartis is a Swiss pharmaceutical company formed in 1996 by the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, with 2025 net sales of $54.5 billion.

Oxycodone tablet, a prescription opioid medication

Opioid

Opioids are a class of drugs that act on specific receptors in the brain, spinal cord, and other parts of the body to reduce the perception of pain, encompassing naturally derived substances from the opium poppy, semi-synthetic derivatives, and fully synthetic compounds designed to produce similar effects. While opioids remain among the most effective medications

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A class of drugs that act on specific receptors to reduce pain, carrying significant risks of tolerance, dependence, and misuse.

Orthostatic hypotension

In simple terms Orthostatic hypotension is a drop in blood pressure that happens when someone stands up. For a few seconds, less blood reaches the brain. The usual result is lightheadedness or dizziness on rising. About one third of people who meet the clinical definition feel nothing at all. How it works The definition is

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Orthostatic hypotension is a drop in blood pressure on standing, of at least 20 mm Hg systolic or 10 mm Hg diastolic within three minutes.

Exhausted distance runner nearing the finish line of a marathon

Overtraining syndrome

Overtraining syndrome is a condition caused by an extended imbalance between training stress and recovery, in which an athlete’s performance declines despite continued or increased training effort, accompanied by persistent fatigue, mood disturbances, and other physiological symptoms that do not resolve with short periods of rest. It differs from the normal, temporary fatigue athletes experience

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A condition caused by chronic imbalance between training stress and recovery, leading to declining performance and persistent fatigue.

An early implantable cardiac pacemaker with a solid-state power source

Pacemaker

A pacemaker is a small electrical device that sends pulses to the heart to help it beat at a steady rate or keep its chambers in step. The first fully implanted unit was placed in a patient in Sweden in 1958, and a more durable American design followed in 1960. This article is general background

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A pacemaker is a small device that sends electrical pulses to the heart; the first fully implanted unit was placed in Sweden in 1958.

Hospital ward filled with patient beds during the 1918 influenza pandemic

Pandemic

A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that has spread across multiple countries or continents, typically affecting a large number of people, and is distinguished from a more localized epidemic primarily by its wide geographic reach rather than by how severe or deadly the disease itself is. Pandemics occur when a pathogen, most often

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An epidemic of infectious disease that has spread across multiple countries or continents.

Athlete performing a squat as part of a periodized training program

Periodization

Periodization is the systematic planning of athletic or exercise training over weeks, months, or years, involving deliberate variation in training volume, intensity, and focus to maximize performance gains while managing fatigue and reducing injury risk. Rather than training at a constant level of effort indefinitely, periodized programs cycle through distinct phases, each with a different

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The systematic planning of training over time through deliberate variation in volume, intensity, and focus.

Pfizer buildings at the corner of Flushing and Marcy Avenues in Brooklyn, New York, the company's historic manufacturing district

Pfizer

Pfizer Inc. is an American biopharmaceutical company, headquartered in New York City, that develops, makes and sells medicines and vaccines. It traces its origins to 1849, when the cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart started a chemical business in Brooklyn. In 2025 Pfizer reported total revenues of $62.6 billion and said it employed approximately 75,000

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Pfizer is a New York-based biopharmaceutical company founded in Brooklyn in 1849 that makes medicines and vaccines, with 2025 revenues of $62.6 billion.

Diagram of human internal organs including the liver, the primary site of drug metabolism

Pharmacokinetics

Pharmacokinetics is the branch of pharmacology that studies how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and eliminates a drug over time, essentially describing what the body does to a drug rather than what the drug does to the body, which is the separate focus of pharmacodynamics. Understanding a drug’s pharmacokinetic profile is essential for determining appropriate

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The study of how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and eliminates a drug over time.