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All of Us is a new research program from the National Institutes of Health. The goal is to advance precision medicine for more people and more conditions. To get there, we need one million or more people to volunteer. Those who join will share information about their health, environment, and lifestyle over time. Researchers will have broad access to study this data to make new discoveries about prevention, treatments, and hopefully cures. What they learn could improve health for generations to come.
What is precision medicine?
Precision medicine is health care that is based on the individual. It considers factors like where people live, what they do, their genetic makeup, and their family health history. Precision medicine’s goal is to be able to tell people the best ways to stay healthy. If someone does get sick, precision medicine may help health care teams find the treatment that will work best for them based on individual factors.
Why is this program needed?
For patients
Today, health care is often “one size fits all” and is not able to fully consider differences in individuals’ lifestyles, environments, or biological makeup, because we have limited data from past research studies about how those elements interact. None of us is an “average” patient, but often we’re prescribed drugs and treatments as if we’re all the same.