The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is one of 24 components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The mission of NIEHS is to conduct research on environment-related diseases. The focus of research is on understanding how environmental factors, individual susceptibility, and age interrelate to cause human illness and on the development of methods to reduce these illnesses. NIEHS achieves its mission through biomedical research programs, prevention and intervention activities, and communication strategies that include training, education, technology transfer, and community outreach.

NIEHS was established as the Division of Environmental Health Sciences within NIH in 1966. In 1967, the Research Triangle Foundation in North Carolina presented the U.S. Surgeon General with 509 acres (206 ha) in...