On Oct. 19, 1956, the Pacific Northwest Diabetes Research Institute (PNDRI) was founded by William B. Hutchinson, Sr., M.D. as a nonprofit biomedical research organization, and a leader in the global fight against diabetes. Today, the organization is known as the Pacific Northwest Research Institute.

The PNDRI was among the first private non-profit biomedical and clinical research institutes in the Northwest. It helped create and establish the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in 1972.