NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The National Institutes of Health today announced it has selected the first community partners for 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 one 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 four community partners it has selected will be tasked with raising awareness about the PMI among seniors, Hispanics and Latinos, African Americans, and the LGBTQ community, as well as complement the program's other outreach efforts. To support their efforts, these groups will receive a combined $1.7 million in funding from the NIH this fiscal year.
The community partners include FiftyForward, which will share information about All of Us at affiliated lifelong learning centers and through home-based services to reach rural, economically disadvantaged, and older adult populations; the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, which will launch bilingual national and local initiatives to promote All of Us in Hispanic communities and work to overcome potential challenges to participation; the Delta Research and Educational Foundation, which will work with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the National Council of Negro Women to promote the need for inclusive research to reduce health disparities affecting African Americans; and the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation, which will form a national network to engage sexual and gender minorities across the country in All of Us.
"Medical breakthroughs have traditionally been based on findings from a limited portion of the US population," Dara Richardson-Heron, chief engagement officer for All of Us, said in a statement. "Our hope is for future research to include all of us so that future health care can be more tailored to our individual differences. We're excited to have the support of these community organizations to help drive our mission and improve the health of all communities."