In 1974, Congress granted authority to form NIA to provide leadership in aging research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs relevant to aging and older people. Subsequent amendments to this legislation designated the NIA as the primary Federal agency on Alzheimer’s disease research.

According to their website, the NIA's mission is to improve the health and well-being of older Americans through research, and specifically, to:

• Support and conduct high-quality research on aging
• Train and develop highly skilled research scientists from all population groups
• Develop and maintain state-of-the-art resources to accelerate research progress
• Disseminate information and communicate with the public and interested groups on health and research advances and on new directions for research.