Medical Center

I hadn’t been to the Medical Center Metrorail Station in, hmmm.  How long has it been?  Oh, right.  Eight years.  When I lived in Silver Spring, one of my roommates worked there and on the rare occasion that I allowed him to drive me somewhere (he drove his red sports car like he was a stunt driver in a low-budget action flick), it was usually to a Metro station, on those days where I was feeling flush enough with cash to splurge on a train instead of my usual 90-minute, two-bus commute.

My roommate, an M.D./Ph.D. (slacker!) did something or other really important at the National Institutes of Health, and I remember being dropped off at the station’s Kiss and Ride, and watching him speed off to the huge, mysterious campus just beyond the security check.  This time I was there to take a tour of the campus, so I headed into the security check, which was probably the most efficient one I’d seen at any federal facility I’ve visited.  The x-ray process was fast and the line for ID badges was arranged like a bank, funneling a seemingly endless stream of people out the doors in just minutes.  The guy who created my badge was even nice to me!

The NIH and National Naval Medical Center – accompanied now by the new Walter Reed National Military Medical Center – carry out some of the most important research in the world, and I know virtually nothing about it.  The tour was illuminating: we visited just two of the 85 buildings on campus, with one of them being so large as to warrant two separate bus stops for the on-campus shuttle service (more on that in a minute).   We learned about the history of infectious disease research and how people come from all over the world for clinical trials.  We also saw that an exhibit on, uh, molecular, um, something or other in the lobby of one building and you would think that the people in attendance were examining the great masterworks in art.  Only they were just huge sheets of paper illustrating oversize versions of alleles (see – I did learn something in 9th grade science!).  Clearly this lobby was filled with geniuses.

The campus shuttle system is worth mentioning, because it literally and metaphorically keeps things moving.  People move back and forth between buildings all the time, apparently, and since there are only a few dining options on campus, knowing how to get to the “good” cafes is important.  I rode four different shuttles during my short trip alone.  There are seven routes altogether and a round trip on the Campus Shuttle lasts 24 minutes.  That’s almost twice as long as my morning commute.

All in all it was an interesting and slightly exhausting trip.  Navigating such a huge place must be overwhelming at times.  I’m glad I got to make it on to campus, however, even if it did take a long time.  Eight years.  Guess I’d better plan on going back again in 2019.

I could have gotten a better shot than this, but that would have required an additional down and back up trip on the escalators, and that was 5 minutes I didn't have to spare.

Line: Medical Center Rating (1-10):  7

Ridership:   This is probably the smartest Metro stop in the entire system.  Well, what I mean is that the average IQ of riders disembarking at this stop is probably off the charts.  Yeah, I’m being stereotypical, but seeing as how there’s not much else at this station besides world-class research facilities, it’s only the dumb visitors like me who are pulling down that average.  The riders – and there weren’t that many of them at 9am on a Thursday – were a heterogeneous crowd, and almost everybody was lugging around a heavy backpack or briefcase.

Pros:  If you’re heading to the NIH, you can’t beat the convenience of the station being just steps from the Welcome Center/security area.  Judging from my colleagues’ parking tribulations that morning, I had a far more pleasant travel experience than did they.  Visitor parking is, well, I’ll let the NIH website explain it to you best: “Visitor Parking is extremely difficult to find at NIH, so if at all possible, take public transportation.”  And that’s pretty much all they have to say about parking.

Cons:  There’s really no other reason to go to this station than the medical centers.  Only a handful of buses – both WMATA and Ride On operated – stop here and – while there are a significant number of bike racks – there’s no parking or car sharing.

Nearby and Noteworthy:  Besides the obvious, there’s…not much.  If you go a bit south on Wisconsin Avenue, however, you’ll find The Potter Violin Company, which claims to be “the largest purveyor of bowed stringed instruments in the mid-Atlantic region.”  Plus they have a Twitter account, so you know they’re legit.

Latest Metro News: The Farragut Crossing “virtual” tunnel has opened!  It is neither virtual nor a tunnel.  Discuss.   (I’m a little verklempt.)

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