Abbott Laboratories is an American worldwide health care company. It has 94,000 employees and operates in more than 150 countries. The company headquarters are in Lake Bluff, Illinois. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate known drugs; it eventually grew to also sell research-based drugs, medical devices, diagnostics, and nutritional products. It split off the research-based pharmaceuticals into Abbvie in 2013.