On 12 October 1925, the Parliament passed a law pertaining to the organisation, scope and foundation of the National Institute of Public Health of the Czechoslovak Republic. On 23 October, this law was officially signed by the President of the Czechoslovak Republic, T. G. Masaryk. The NIPH was inaugurated on 5 November 1925. Prof. Pavel Kučera, MD was appointed as its first director.

During the first Republic, the NIPH became an eminent scientific institution. Its activities included sera and vaccine manufacturing, wide-ranging scientific activities, and participation in bacteriological-diagnostic and pharmaceutical research. Another important part of the Institute was the department of public health concerned with medical statistics, epidemiology of infectious and non-infectious diseases, nutritional hygiene, occupational health, and living conditions.

After the death of Prof. Kučera, the newly appointed director of the NIPH, Doc. Bohumil Vacek, MD (serving 1928 – 1937), approved Dr. B. Feierabend’s suggestion to publish regular NIPH Newsletters. These were distributed as free supplements of the Journal of Czech Physicians, General Practitioner and Beiträge zur ärztlichen Fortbildung [Contributions to medical education]. The newsletters included laboratory procedures and instruction manuals following the needs of the contemporary epidemiological situation. From 1930 onwards, the NIPH began to publish a journal written in French, Les Travaux [The Works], where the research of the scientists working at the NIPH was presented. At the beginning of 1938, Prof Hynek Pelc took over the directorship of the Institute. The Institute was divided into separate departments, with their research roles described below:

I.                   Department of Serum Therapy: Researchers were situated in a specially designed building and had access to stables where almost 3000 specimens of small and large animals were kept – especially rabbits, guinea pigs and mice – for manufacturing and experimental purposes. The Department was producing 56 different kinds of sera and vaccines – for example, against diphtheria, tetanus, scarlet fever, measles, and many other diseases.

II.                Department for Smallpox Vaccine Production: This part of the NIPH was specialised in the production of lymph from cowpox which was used for inoculation against smallpox.

III.             Department for Biological Control of Drugs: Testing of the new drugs developed by the researchers of the Institute was done by the Third department. Only after rigorous controls were applied for testing the efficacy and effects on human body it was possible to sell the products.

IV.             Department for Bacteriological Diagnosis: Laboratories of the Fourth department were to become the parental body for all other laboratories that examined the microbial and serological features of diseases. Doctors used to send the infectious material they collected to the Institute. In there, the microscopic, serological, and microbiological culture techniques were used to obtain results that were sent back to the physicians. The Department had its own parasitological laboratory and it produced and distributed diagnostic equipment, such as Sanguitest for blood group testing

V.                Department of Social Hygiene: The role of the Fifth department was threefold: research, hygiene equipment inspection, and education. The laboratories of the Department of Social Hygiene pursued research in epidemiology (to understand the origins and causes of communicable diseases through statistical methods), school and child hygiene, industrial hygiene, hygiene of housing and food hygiene.

VI.             Department of Health Education: Officers of the Department of Public Health Education worked to translate the public health and scientific discoveries into measures from which all members of the general population could benefit. The Department cooperated with all other sections of the National Institute of Public Health. Through public health lectures, newspaper articles, leaflets, exhibitions and educational films it also served as an intermediary between science and the public. Those interested in the history of medicine could also explore the Medical Museum which was a part of the Sixth Department.

VII.          Department of Food Analysis: It examined the quality and safety of food samples

VIII.       Department for Drug Control: Same as above, examining drugs intended for sale in the Czech Republic.

The Bohumile Estate by Kostelec nad Černými lesy was adapted for keeping experimental animals, especially horses, for vaccine manufacturing needs of the First and Second Departments of the NIPH.

Sample work – in the XIII District of Big Prague a sample model of Health and Social work was implemented, where scientific knowledge was directly applied, particularly in departments of Social Hygiene. This District has become a great social laboratory where the proven methods and experience were accepted as standard.

School for nurses of Social and Health care - in the preparatory stage, the school for Health and Social Care nurse was affiliated to the Institute.