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

biomedical Biomedicine (also referred to as Western medicine, mainstream medicine or conventional medicine)

research institute A research institute, research centre, 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 implies natural ...

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— ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, located in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington. Founded to investigate heart surgery,

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, 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: # Endocri ...

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 (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 no official boundary exists, the most common ...

, it was created in 1956 by William B. Hutchinson as the Pacific Northwest Research Foundation (PNRF). A second-generation

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

, founder Hutchinson (1909–1997) was a

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

and an older brother of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher and manager Fred Hutchinson, who died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

at age 45 in 1964. In 1972, PNRF received federal funding under the National Cancer Act of 1971 with the help of U.S. Senator 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 (state), Washington. History ...

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 complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

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

* {{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)