LOVELAND, Colo. (Jan. 12, 2022) – Banner McKee Medical Center has opened its doors for enrollment into the All of Us Research Program. An initiative of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the All of Us Research Program, led by the University of Arizona and Banner Health in Arizona and Colorado, is a precision medicine effort which aims to build the largest and most diverse database of health information to improve health for future generations.
Unlike a single research study focused on a specific disease or population, All of Us serves as a national research resource to inform thousands of studies, covering a wide variety of health conditions that affect many different people. The goal of the program is to enroll more than a million people nationwide to share their biomedical, lifestyle, and environmental health information. Researchers can then access this database of information to study how these factors affect how disease and medications impact individuals differently and hopefully create more precise medical approaches in the future.
“So much of what we’ve done in medicine over the years has not really taken into account individual differences,” said Francis Collins, MD, PhD, former director of NIH. “We’re building a fundamental base of knowledge about how humans stay healthy and get sick and what to do about it. I think the practice of medicine will be altered in profound ways.”
Partners with the NIH since 2017, the All of Us UArizona-Banner consortium currently leads the country with more than 47,000 participants enrolled. Participants can enroll at one of 13 sites in Arizona and now two sites in Colorado: Banner North Colorado Medical Center and Banner McKee Medical Center.
“Having the All of Us Research Program establish a clinic at McKee Medical Center in Loveland makes me proud,” said Margo Karsten, Banner Health Western Region president. “I’m humbled that we are able to play a small role in this historic work to personalize health care and improve the way we prevent and treat disease.”
All eligible adults who live in the United States can join the All of Us Research Program and U.S. citizenship or permanent residency are not needed to enroll. Only people who are 18 or older can join. There are four ways to join: Visit the All of Us website, AllofUsAZ.org.; download the All of Us Research Program app (Google Play or iTunes).; visit the North Colorado Medical Center or McKee Medical Center All of Us Research Program enrollment site; or, call 877-268-2684.
Participants are asked to create an account, give consent, agree to share access to their electronic health records and to answer health surveys. They also may be invited to visit a Banner Health site for a free appointment to have their physical measurements taken and to provide blood and urine samples. Upon completion of all of these activities, participants are compensated $25.
Participants will have opportunities over many years to provide additional data about themselves that will help researchers learn more about how individual differences in lifestyle, environment and biological makeup can influence health and disease. By taking part, participants will contribute to an effort to advance the health of generations to come.
Leading the Northern Colorado team is Michael Bradfield, MD, MPH. Dr. Bradfield is the University of Arizona-Banner Health Colorado regional medical director for the All of Us Research Program. A family physician who is involved in the residency program to train new physicians, Dr. Bradfield oversees the All of Us Research Program operations in Northern Colorado. To learn more, or to enroll, visit AllofUsAZ.org or call 877-268-2684.
The University of Arizona-Banner Health Program is supported under the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program funding award OT2OD026549 with previous awards UG3OD023171-01 and UG3OD023171-01S1 and the CEAL funding award OT2-HL156812.
“All of Us” and the All of Us logo are registered service marks of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).
About the All of Us Research Program
The mission of the All of Us Research Program is to accelerate health research and medical breakthroughs, enabling individualized prevention, treatment, and care for all of us. The program will partner with one million or more people across the United States to build the most diverse biomedical data resource of its kind, to help researchers gain better insights into the biological, environmental, and behavioral factors that influence health. For more information, visit JoinAllofUs.org and allofus.nih.gov. For Arizona news, visit AllofUsAZ.org or Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @AllofUsAZ.
About Banner Health
Headquartered in Arizona, Banner Health is one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the country. The system owns and operates 30 acute-care hospitals, Banner Health Network, Banner – University Medicine, Banner Medical Group, long-term care centers, outpatient surgery centers and an array of other services, including Banner Urgent Care, family clinics, home care and hospice services, pharmacies and a nursing registry. Banner Health is in six states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming. For more information visit www.BannerHealth.com.
About the University of Arizona Health Sciences
Located on campuses in Tucson and Phoenix, the University of Arizona Health Sciences is one of the top-ranked academic medical centers in the southwestern United States. UArizona Health Sciences includes the College of Medicine – Phoenix, College of Medicine – Tucson, College of Nursing, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, and R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy. In addition, 12 UArizona Health Sciences centers and programs focus on cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, pain and addiction, and respiratory diseases; biomedical informatics, health technology innovation and simulation training; and precision health care and health disparities. A leader in next-generation education, biomedical research and public outreach, UArizona Health Sciences employs nearly 5,000 people, has approximately 4,000 students and 900 faculty members, and garners more than $220 million in research grants and contracts annually. For more information: uahs.arizona.edu (Follow us: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | LinkedIn | Instagram).
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