---
kind: "section"
citation: "42 U.S.C. § 283c"
title: "42"
title_heading: "The Public Health and Welfare"
number: "283c"
heading: "Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/42/283c"
units:
  - "Chapter 6A — Public Health Service"
  - "Subchapter III — National Research Institutes"
  - "Part A — National Institutes of Health"
---

# §283c. Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research

- (a) There is established within the Office of the [Director](/usc/42/11851.md?p=5) of NIH an office to be known as the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (in this section referred to as the “Office”). The Office shall be headed by a [director](/usc/42/11851.md?p=5), who shall be appointed by the [Director](/usc/42/11851.md?p=5) of NIH.
- (b)
  - (1) With respect to research on the relationship between human behavior and the development, [treatment](/usc/42/11851.md?p=11), and prevention of medical conditions, the [Director](/usc/42/11851.md?p=5) of the Office shall—
    - (A) coordinate research conducted or supported by the [agencies](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1) of the National Institutes of Health; and
    - (B) identify [projects](/usc/42/13641.md?p=2) of behavioral and social sciences research that should be conducted or supported by the national research institutes, and develop such [projects](/usc/42/13641.md?p=2) in cooperation with such institutes.
  - (2) Research authorized under [paragraph (1)](#b-1) includes research on teen pregnancy, infant mortality, violent behavior, suicide, and homelessness. Such research does not include neurobiological research, or research in which the behavior of an organism is observed for the purpose of determining activity at the cellular or molecular level.

## Source credit

(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title IV, § 404A, as added Pub. L. 103–43, title II, § 203(a), June 10, 1993, 107 Stat. 145.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Pub. L. 103–43, title II, § 203(c), June 10, 1993, 107 Stat. 146, provided that: “The amendment described in subsection (a) [enacting this section] is made upon the date of the enactment of this Act [June 10, 1993] and takes effect July 1, 1993. Subsection (b) [107 Stat. 145] takes effect on such date.”