May 14, 2018
Precision Medicine ‘Of the people, for the people, by the people’?
Chicago joined with sites across the country to kick off the national enrollment for the All of Us Research Program, the largest effort of its type to date in the precision medicine area. The local event was hosted by the Illinois Precision Medicine Consortium, which includes Northwestern Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Chicago, Rush University Medical Center and NorthShore University HealthSystem. Unlike traditional research studies focused on a specific disease or population, All of Us is conceived as a national research resource which can be leveraged to inform thousands of subsequent studies spanning a breadth of health conditions and diseases. The ambitious goal of the program is to enroll one million or more participants representing the diversity of America in ways that have not been typical for prior studies. Funded by a 5-year, $51 million grant, the Consortium plays a key role in the launch of the landmark longitudinal research effort central to the Precision Medicine initiative of the NIH. According to Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, “The All of Us Research Program will change the way we do research. Participants will be partners in research, not subjects, and will have access to a wide range of study result. What we’re doing with the All of Us Research Program is intersecting with other fundamental changes in medicine and research to empower Americans to live healthier lives.”
Contributed by: Jim Audia
Chicago Helps Launch All of Us Research Program to Advance Precision Medicine
Northwestern Medicine News Center | May 11, 2018
All of Us. Source: Northwestern Medicine News Center
On May 6, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) opened national enrollment for the All of Us Research Program — a momentous effort to advance individualized prevention, treatment and care for people of all backgrounds. To mark the occasion, the Illinois Precision Medicine Consortium hosted a launch event at Chicago’s Millennium Park, one of many simultaneous events held around the country to mark the program’s launch.
The Illinois Precision Medicine Consortium includes Northwestern Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Chicago, Rush University Medical Center, and NorthShore University HealthSystem. The consortium received a five-year, $51 million grant to help launch a landmark longitudinal research effort central to the Precision Medicine Initiative from the NIH. All of Us will gather lifestyle and medical data from people across the United States to provide the most diverse biomedical data resource in history.
The overall aim is to enroll one million or more volunteers and oversample communities that have been underrepresented in research to make the program the largest, most diverse resource of its kind.
“The time is now to transform how we conduct research — with participants as partners — to shed new light on how to stay healthy and manage disease in more personalized ways. This is what we can accomplish through All of Us,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD.
Precision medicine is an emerging approach to disease treatment and prevention that considers differences in people’s lifestyles, environments and biological makeup, including genes. The All of Us Research Program will enable research to more precisely prevent and treat a variety of health conditions.
“Data from the program has the potential to make an impact for generations to come by enabling investigators to gain better insights into how our individual differences in environment, biology, genetics and lifestyle can affect our health,” said Philip Greenland, MD, the Harry W. Dingman Professor of Cardiology and primary investigator at Northwestern Medicine, the lead site for the Illinois Precision Medicine Consortium. “All of Us may help in the future with personalized prevention, treatment and management options based on themes found from the data that every participant offers.”
To learn more about the All of Us program and how to join, please visit JoinAllofUs.org.
Source:
Adapted (with modifications) from Northwestern Medicine News Center, published on May 11, 2018.
See also:
▸ The All of Us Research Program kicks off in Chicago, by Jane Kollmer, published in UChicago Medicine, The Forefront, on May 2, 2018.
▸ UIC, Chicago medical centers join NIH to host All of Us launch event, by Jacqueline Carey, published in UIC today, on May 2, 2018.