Definition of National Eye Institute (NEI)

National Eye Institute (NEI): One of the US National Institutes of Health, NEI's mission is to "conduct and support research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to blinding eye diseases, visual disorders, mechanisms of visual function, preservation of sight, and the special health problems and requirements of the blind."

The National Eye Institute was established in 1968. It arose as a fission product of what was then called the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness.