The Pacific Northwest Research Institute (PNRI) is a private non-profit biomedical and clinical

research institute A research institute, research centre, research center or research organization, is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often i ...

in the

northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, located in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Founded to investigate

heart surgery Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, and

endocrine disease Endocrine diseases are disorders of the endocrine system. The branch of medicine associated with endocrine disorders is known as endocrinology. Types of disease Broadly speaking, endocrine disorders may be subdivided into three groups: # Endocrin ...

s, its current focus is pioneering genetic research to find new solutions to improve human health.

History

The first such institute in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

, it was created in 1956 by

William B. Hutchinson William B. Hutchinson (September 6, 1909 – October 26, 1997) was an American physician and surgeon, and the founder of both the Pacific Northwest Research Foundation and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in his native Seattle, Washington (state ...

as the Pacific Northwest Research Foundation (PNRF). A second-generation

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, founder Hutchinson (1909–1997) was a

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

and an older brother of major league

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

and manager

Fred Hutchinson Frederick Charles Hutchinson (August 12, 1919 – November 12, 1964) was an American professional baseball player, a major league pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, and the manager for three major league teams. Born and raised in Seattle, Washing ...

, who died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

at age 45 in 1964. In 1972, PNRF received federal funding under the

National Cancer Act of 1971 The "war on cancer" is the effort to find a cure for cancer by increased research to improve the understanding of cancer biology and the development of more effective cancer treatments, such as targeted drug therapies. The aim of such efforts is ...

with the help of

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Warren G. Magnuson to create in Seattle one of the 15 new cancer centers called for under 1971 Act; the

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, formerly known as the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and also known as Fred Hutch or The Hutch, is a cancer research institute established in 1975 in Seattle, Washington. History The center grew out o ...

was founded in 1972 and its building opened 3 years later.

Name

The organization was founded in 1956 as the Pacific Northwest Research Foundation, whose name is still on the exterior of the building. In 1997 the organization changed its name to Pacific Northwest Research Institute. In 2008 the organization changed its name to Pacific Northwest Diabetes Research Institute. In 2017, the organization returned to the name, Pacific Northwest Research Institute.

Staff

The institute has 85 employees in 6 investigative teams. The current president and CEO is John Wecker.

Community involvement

Each year the institute hosts one of the Northwest's most successful wine events featuring one of the largest blind wine tasting games in the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

area. Boutique wineries from Washington State partner with the institute to make An Evening of Wine feature Washington State's latest

varietal A varietal wine is a wine made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.winepros.com.au. ...

References

External links

* * https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-10-diabetes-celiac-disease.html {{authority control Medical research institutes in the United States Diabetes organizations Non-profit organizations based in Seattle Research institutes established in 1956 Research institutes in Seattle Medical and health organizations based in Washington (state)