About Location

Building 45 image

Location Address:

William H. Natcher Conference Center
Building 45, Room E1 & E2
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD

Description:
The Natcher Building, completed in 1994, includes office space for 600 NIH extramural staff, a 1,000-seat auditorium, a state-of-the-art multiuse Conference Center with nine conference rooms, a 300-seat cafeteria, and underground employee parking for 450 vehicles.

Building Other Names:
Building 45; William H. Natcher Building; Natcher Conference Center

Getting to the Natcher Conference Center

NOTE: New security measures have been put in place on the NIH campus, affecting both staff and visitors. For more information, please refer to the NIH Visitor Information and Security Information pages on the main NIH Web site

All visitors to the NIH campus must enter through the NIH Gateway Center (Building 66). The Gateway Center is conveniently located near the above-ground entrance to the Medical Center Station on the Washington Metro Red Line. Metro is the Washington area's subway and bus system.

NIH Campus Parking Map

Washington Metrorail Map


We strongly encourage taking the Metro to the Natcher Conference Center. There are very few visitor parking spaces at NIH, and parking for wheelchair-accessible vehicles is sparse. There is a 3-hour limit on visitor parking spaces, and ticketing is enforced. The Natcher Conference Center is a 5-minute walk from the Medical Center Station on the Red Line and the adjacent NIH Gateway Center. Follow the signs for NIH, rather than the signs for the National Naval Medical Center, also known as the Bethesda Naval Hospital. The Natcher Building front entrance is located on Center Drive.

Visitors arriving as pedestrians will be asked to enter through the NIH Gateway Center for an identification check, security screening, and baggage inspection. Each visitor must provide a form of government-issued photo identification at the Gateway Center, such as a driver's license, passport, or federal agency employee identification if it had not been issued by NIH. Upon clearance in the Gateway Center, visitors will receive a Visitor's Identification Badge, wich they must display at all times while on the NIH campus.

Visitors arriving in vehicles, on motorcycles, or bicycles will be asked to go through inspection at the NIH Gateway Vehicle Inspection Station (Building 66A), directly south of the intersection of South Drive and Rockville Pike (Wisconsin Avenue), before entering the NIH campus or attempting to park.

For our ICF Conference guests who are wheelchair-users, the NIH Gateway Center is fully accessible. There is an elevator from the Medical Center Station train platform level ot the surface level, and the Gateway Center is adjacent to the Station entrance. Upon clearance in the Gateway Center, you can use another elevator in the Gateway Center to go up to the next surface level, where a smooth, slightly-uphill asphalt path leads directly to the entrances at the Natcher Conference Center. The distance is about 200 meters, or one-tenth of a mile.

Visitors who are not citizens of the United States are welcome, but they must provide their passport and submit to the same inspection procedures at the Gateway Center. No pre-registration or prior clearance is required for visitors who are not U.S. citizens.

Everyone should allow extra time for the processing and security procedures necessary at the NIH Gateway Center.

Visitors attending the ICF Conference on both days must enter through the Gateway Center each day, and receive a separate Visitor's Identification Badge.

If you must drive, take the Wisconsin Avenue exit from the Capital Beltway (Interstate Route 495) and go about 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) south on Wisconsin Avenue toward Bethesda, staying in the right lane. Do not turn onto South Drive, instead go another approximately 500 meters (three-tenths of a mile) and turn right onto "NIH Gateway Drive". This one-way road leads direclty to the Gateway Center Vehicle Inspection Station, Building 66A. The Natcher Building is at 45 Center Drive and is located across from the National Library of Medicine (Buildings 38 and 38A).

A street map of the NIH Gateway Center area, and the Gateway Center Vehicle Inspection Station, is located at this NIH Web site:

http://parking.nih.gov/Gateway.htm.

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