The National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR), is the only FDA Center located outside the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The one-million square foot research campus in Jefferson, Arkansas plays a critical role in the missions of FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services to promote and protect public health.
Regulatory science researchers, academia, and other regulatory science research organizations and groups from around the world investigate, learn, and train at the Federal facility. NCTR, FDA’s internationally recognized research center, plays a critical role in FDA’s mission. The unique scientific expertise of NCTR is critical in supporting FDA product centers and their regulatory roles.

Vision

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) is a global resource for collaboration providing consultation, training, and innovative scientific solutions in support of FDA’s mission to improve public health.
Mission

NCTR conducts scientific research to generate data for FDA decision making, and develops and supports innovative tools and approaches that FDA uses to protect and promote individual and public health.

NCTR:
Provides interdisciplinary toxicology research solutions and consultations that support and anticipate future FDA needs to guard and improve personal and public health.
Uses multidisciplinary research teams to develop novel translational research approaches for safety-assessment protocols that provide FDA with more accurate and economic methods for addressing regulatory questions.
Engages in collaborations with scientists across FDA and other government agencies, industry, and academia to strengthen the scientific foundations vital to developing sound regulatory policy, and to promote the international standardization and global harmonization of regulatory science.
Develops—or participates in—national and international consortia that provide harmonized standards for technologies and risk-evaluation methods vital to FDA’s regulatory and public-health mission.
Provides and encourages multidisciplinary workforce development, and fosters national and international collaborations with scientists from government, academia, and industry.