Navy Medicine Fast Facts – Naval Medical Research and Development Command
BLUF – On Oct. 1, 2026, the Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC) was elevated to an Echelon III command under the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) and redesignated the Navy Medicine Research and Development Command (NMRDC). This milestone harkens back to 1974 when Navy medical R&D went through one of its most significant transformations. That year the Naval Medical Neuropsychiatric Research Unit (NMNPRU) was redesignated the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC), the Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory (NAMRL) separated from the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute (NAMI) becoming its own command, and the BUMED Research Division relocated to the 12th floor of Building 1 at the National Naval Medical Center (NNMC) Bethesda, Maryland and became the Naval Medical Research and Development Command (NMRDC).
For 24 years, the original NMRDC was our research hub and responsible for Navy Medicine’s vast research and development enterprise. At its peak, NMRDC oversaw 11 R&D commands and activities worldwide. In this issue we look back at the original NMRDC.