All of Us Mobile Unit on Campus
You may have heard about the All of Us Research Program, but you may not know much about it. The program aims to build the largest, most diverse health database of its kind. To do that, All of Us has an ambitious goal of recruiting and retaining at least a million participants over the course of 10 years.
NIH staff members and campus visitors will have the chance to learn more about All of Us May 8-12, when the program’s traveling educational exhibit, the Journey, will be on the Bethesda campus. The mobile unit will be parked in front of the Natcher Conference Center (Bldg. 45) and behind the Clinical Center’s south parking lot (10H) during this time. Visitors will have an opportunity to check out the Journey’s interactive stations and sign up to join the program.
Throughout the course of their experience, All of Us participants are asked to give biosamples (blood, saliva, urine), share health information through electronic health records and wearable devices, and answer surveys. In turn, researchers conduct their own studies using the data that participants have generously contributed. The hope is that researchers will advance medical breakthroughs, enabling individualized prevention, treatment and care.
Part of what makes All of Us unique is about 80% of its participants represent communities that have been historically underrepresented in medical research, including rural populations, people with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ communities, and those with lower levels of education and income. Almost 50% identify with a racial or ethnic minority group.
The program’s mobile exhibit has been an important vehicle for reaching these diverse populations. The Journey partners with trusted community organizations in regions across the country that don’t have easy access to an All of Us enrollment center.
Interested in learning more? Stop by and talk to program staff during the on-campus event. You can enroll ahead of time at https://allofus.nih.gov/atNIH. After enrollment, you can schedule an appointment to provide biospecimens at the event by calling (844) 842-2855.