SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program to support the program’s engagement and enrollment efforts, with a focus on promoting voluntary participation from underrepresented groups in biomedical research, accelerating the benefits of research to all communities.
“This project encapsulates the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine’s mission to invest in transformational work which delivers the benefits of biomedical research and next-generation health solutions to all communities,” said Kim Johnson, California Health and Human Services (CalHHS) Secretary. “For nine years, the initiative has nimbly demonstrated the power of centering communities in world-class precision medicine research, and we see this partnership with the All of Us Research Program as another step to further serve Californians over the long-term.”
ABOUT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH’S ALL OF US RESEARCH PROGRAM
All of Us incorporates data from participant surveys, electronic health records, and DNA sequencing to drive forward research that could improve health and the early detection, treatment, and prevention of disease. The program follows strict security protocols and processes to keep data safe. Identifying information is removed and data are then made available to registered researchers through a secure cloud-based ‘Researcher Workbench.’ All research projects and individual participant data remain on this platform and are prohibited from downloading. “Partnerships are paramount to the success of the All of Us Research Program,” said Josh Denny, M.D., M.S., chief executive officer of the All of Us Research Program. “Our goal of building one of the most diverse health research databases in history can only come to fruition when we are able to successfully reach communities that have historically been overlooked by medical research. CIAPM will help the program reach more people living in California so they can participate in this important work, and bring additional researchers to this resource to advance scientific discovery and health equity for all.”
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT: Nationwide, researchers have already identified more than 275 million previously unreported genetic variants through the All of Us effort, in part due to engaging voluntary participants from communities who have been left out of research in the past. Californians who choose to participate in the program can learn information about the health and research studies that use All of Us data.
All of Us aims to enroll 1 million or more participants nationwide reflective of the US population, building one of the largest health databases of its kind, with diversity in race, ethnicity, age group, geography, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, education, disability, and health status.
ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA INITIATIVE TO ADVANCE PRECISION MEDICINE
CIAPM, formerly housed within the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and now residing within the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS), is committing $9.25 million over four years, to further the scope of All of Us in California by reaching out to and learning from participants and researchers through the Representative Research Collaborative, a new and actively growing network of state and local agencies, universities, community-based organizations, clinics, philanthropists, and researchers.
Broader and diverse representation in biomedical research is deeply needed and will benefit all Californians. As one of the most diverse states in the nation, California has great potential to further this goal.
To learn more about the All of Us Research Program, please visit the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us webpage to join.
Please also visit the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine webpage to learn more about state-level research and engagement efforts.