Contributed by the C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research

Health care is generally one-size-fits-all. When you visit the doctor, your treatments are often the same as everyone else’s. Wouldn’t it be great if your health care were tailored specifically to you? This is called precision medicine.

Precision medicine takes into account:

• Environment — where you live
• Lifestyle — for example, what you eat
• Biology — your genes and family history

We can get to precision medicine through research. How? By creating a resource researchers can use to conduct thousands of health studies.

Join the All of Us Research Program

VCU Health patients now have the opportunity to join a national research program that’s enrolling 1 million or more people living in the United States.

The All of Us Research Program is a research program whose goal is to learn how differences between us might lead to different types of treatments. People who join will share information about their health, habits and what it’s like where they live. You might also be asked about your family history and genes. Researchers will use this information to do studies that may help improve health for everyone.

VCU joined last year to help connect VCU Health patients to this unique program.

What kind of information will I provide?

You will be asked to:

• Take online surveys
• Share your electronic health record

You may be asked to:

• Have your physical measurements taken
• Give blood, urine and/or saliva samples

6 things to know about this program

1. Taking part is free. It won’t cost you anything more than a little bit of your time.
   
   
2. All eligible adults in the United States can join. You can be involved in the program as much or as little as you like.
   
   
3. If you join, you will complete surveys, safely share your medical records, and you may be asked to give a blood and urine sample.
   
   
4. The program will last for at least 10 years. We hope you stay in it that long. You can choose to stop taking part at any time. If you do, your access to health care or treatment will not be affected.
   
   
5. The program is collecting information from people across the country. This will help researchers learn new things to make discoveries.
   
   
6. We use the latest technology to help keep your data private and safe.

Join now

The future of health begins with you. Join the All of Us Research Program. Email allofus@vcu.edu or call (804) 827-1531 with questions.