JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A nationwide program hopes to get a million participants to build a database that one day will be used to treat and prevent diseases.
It is called the “All of Us Research Program,” and it is being conducted by the National Institute of Health.
The goal is to gather health data from a million diverse people throughout the country.
“Prevention of diseases is also a very important factor, especially in the community,” resident Karsten Brinson said.
Research focuses on the intersection of environment, lifestyle and biology.
This data will then be used to conduct thousands of health studies, create a database, and improve health for everyone.
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Brinson said he’s never heard of this program, but he’d be willing to join the database.
“Because what I do on my health could benefit someone else,” Brinson said.
Although Brinson’s never heard of this research, Dr. Kim Barbel Johnson of the Northeast Florida Medical Society has, and she’s a participant.
“It’s an incredible opportunity for the citizens of this country who are willing to participate to enter into space advancing science,” Barbel Johnson said.
Barbel Johnson said as a member of the research and someone who’s been given some of the information collected so far, it seems useful.
“We’ve been able to see information about young kids with survivors of cancer and seek different risks genetically that they may have had with brain or nerve conditions,” Johnson said.
So far, nearly 800,000 people have enrolled with over 500,000 completing the initial steps of the program.
More than 52% of participants identify as white, while around 17% identify as Black or African American and a little over 16% identify as Hispanic or Spanish.
Dr. Shari Calicker, who specializes in family medicine, said the lower participation from minority groups might come from their mistrust of medicine.
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Most recently, that mistrust could be seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, when minority groups were hesitant to get vaccines which was rooted in mistrust from decades prior, following the Tuskegee experiment.
Dr. Calicker said to get past this mistrust and make sure this database is diverse, doctors must communicate with their patients.
“Talking to them, listening to them, you know, we do have a limited amount of time as physicians being able to speak to our patients, but you’d be surprised the kind of conversations you can have giving someone an extra two to three minutes of your… by doing that, that helps to create the trust, it helps create the foundation of the relationship,” Calicker said.
Some people who choose to participate in the research could be invited to visit certain centers around the country to have their height, weight and blood pressure taken, and provide biosamples like blood and urine.
To learn more about the program visit this website.