NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The National Institutes of Health announced today that it has selected three networks of health provider organizations (HPOs) to help enroll and retain participants in the Precision Medicine Initiative's (PMI) All of Us research program.
The PMI was launched in 2015 to gather genetic, health, lifestyle, and environmental information on 1 million people to fuel research into personalized healthcare. The All of Us program, formerly known as the PMI Cohort Program, is recruiting participants for this effort.
The NIH said that the HPOs will receive $13.8 million in combined funding to enroll individuals interested in the All of Us program, gather participant health information, and help retain participants through ongoing engagement efforts. These groups will extend the geographic coverage of the program and strengthen its reach within underserved communities including lower-income, Hispanic and Latino, African American, Native Americans, and rural communities, the agency added.
"We want this program to reflect the rich diversity of our country," Eric Dishman, director of the All of Us program, said in a statement. "Expanding our national network of health care provider organizations enhances our ability to reach communities traditionally underrepresented in medical research."
The new HPOs include the Southern All of Us Network, which is made up of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Cooper Green Mercy Hospital, Huntsville Hospital, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Tulane Medical Center, Tuskegee University, UAB Hospital, the UAB School of Medicine's Montgomery Internal Medicine and Selma Family Medicine programs, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the University of South Alabama Health System, and University Medical Center.
Also joining are the SouthEast Enrollment Center, which includes the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Emory University, the Morehouse School of Medicine, and the OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium; and All of US Wisconsin, which includes the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, BloodCenter of Wisconsin, the Medical College of Wisconsin, and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
In July, the NIH named the first community partners for All of Us program, which are raising awareness about the effort among seniors, Hispanics and Latinos, African Americans, and the LGBTQ community.