The NINDS leads the federal government's medical research effort to fight stroke. It funds research studies at universities, medical schools and hospitals across the country and conducts its own research on the grounds of the NIH campus in Bethesda, Md., as well at the NIH Stroke Center at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md. Many studies are done in NINDS-supported stroke clinical research centers. The institute also runs a multifaceted public and professional education program on stroke (Know Stroke, Know the Signs, Act in Time).

Through research discoveries made by NINDS investigators in the past several years, the public and healthcare professionals are changing the way they think about stroke. Increasingly, stroke is now viewed as a preventable, treatable problem like heart attack. For example, NINDS-supported clinical trials have shown the benefits of aspirin and warfarin (an anticoagulant) for stroke prevention in specific at-risk populations. Institute investigators have also identified the first emergency drug treatment for ischemic stroke. The treatment, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), when given within three hours of symptom onset, resulted in a 33 percent increase in the number of patients free of disability three months after their stroke.