Portrait of (left to right) Dr. Albert Baird Hastings (1895-1987) and Dr. James A. Hawkins posed in a laboratory at the Hospital of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (H.R.I.M.R.). Best known for the study of acid-base homeostasis, Dr. Hastings served as a research assistant at the H.R.I.M.R. from 1921 to 1926 before joining the faculty of the University of Chicago. Dr. Hawkins similarly conducted research at the H.R.I.M.R. related to the acid-base equilibrium of blood, publishing several scientific papers of the subject throughout the 1920's.

The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (later Rockefeller University) was founded in June 1901 as America's first biomedical institute akin to the Pasteur Institute (1888) in France and the Robert Koch Institute in Germany (1891). The Hospital, which opened in 1910, was America's first facility devoted to clinical research, with a focus on researching the safety and efficacy of medications, devices, and treatment regimens intended for human use.