IT IS with a very real sense of humility that I accept the Borden Award from the Academy of Pediatrics. I am happy to receive it in San Francisco since this was the scene of some of my earlier adventures in pediatrics. It is not quite polite, I suppose, to question the wisdom of the committee which made this award. Perhaps, however, its members will not be offended if I point out that I am only one member of a team—that such contributions as have been made from the Child Research Council during the past two decades are the product of the teamwork and loyalty of many investigators. A brief description of our institute will serve as an easy introduction to my subject. We are following intensively a small group of individuals. At present we have 137, ranging in age from birth to 25 years. Each new baby is registered in the study early in his prenatal career. Thus we have the opportunity of knowing something about the mother's health and diet, as well as some beginning understanding of the family and home into which this new human being is to be born. Each baby is then observed frequently, regularly, and from many different aspects through infancy, childhood, adolescence and on into the mature years; for we have become an institute engaged in following the whole life-span of individual persons. We try to make use of the wisdom and skills from many fields of science. We are not using human subjects as "guinea pigs" to contribute new knowledge to a specific field but, instead, all fields of science are being utilized to contribute to an awareness of the unique individuality of each child—to an understanding of how his own peculiar characteristics and patterns of growth contribute to his chance for healthy development and happy adaptation to his environment.