The Origins of OHPCC

The origins of the OHPCC date back to 1992, when the National Coordination Office for High Performance Computing and Communications (NCO/HPCC) was established. From September, 1992, to March, 1995, Donald A.B. Lindberg, M.D., served concurrently as Director of the NCO and Director of the National Library of Medicine (NLM). His leadership was instrumental in establishing the NCO as a model for interagency cooperation and coordination of the R&D investments in HPCC across twelve Federal departments and agencies. After Dr. Lindberg returned to directing NLM full time, and the NCO moved to National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia, it became clear that there still was a need to plan and conduct R&D in HPCC technologies applicable to biomedicine and health care and to coordinate this work with the efforts of the HPCC Program and the NCO. As a result, Dr. Lindberg established the NLM Office of High Performance Computing and Communications (OHPCC) within the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications.