The 50th Anniversary of the National Institute of MentalHealth and the National Institute of NeurologicalDisorders and Stroke was celebrated at the Library ofCongress on October 9 with a dinner chaired byDeeda Blair. Actor Christopher Reeve petitioned thedistinguished members of the medical and biomedicalprofessions for continued, coordinated research in theneurosciences. The event preceded a two-day scientificsymposia, “Celebrating 50 Years of Brain Research: NewDiscoveries, New Hope” and the launch of the JohnEdward Porter Neuroscience Research Center at NIH.The late Katharine Graham’s leadership was recognized;she served as co-chairman of the dinner from the summerof 2000 until the time of her death in July.