NIEHS director and staff meet periodically with the Partners to seek input and improve communications with communities and organizations directly affected by the mission and the research of NIEHS.

The Partner members represent non-profit organizations that advocate for:

• People with health conditions such as asthma and other lung diseases, breast cancer, prostate cancer, Parkinson's Disease, birth defects, autism, and lupus;
• at-risk groups who may be particularly susceptible to environmental effects such as children, pregnant people, and under-served communities; and
• improved living and working environments.

Working with the Partners allows NIEHS to learn more about the priorities of these organizations, and helps to shape the institute’s research agenda. In turn, these organizations learn about NIEHS research enterprise and about the other partner organizations. The Partners are powerful voices for environmental health issues.