All of Us Research Program

**All of Us Research Program Overview** **How Can *All of Us* Make a Difference?** Too often, health care is one size fits all. Treatments meant for the “average” patient may not work well for individual people. Health care providers may find it difficult to coordinate care among specialists or to access all of a patient's health information. Researchers may spend lots of time and resources creating new databases for every study. *All of Us* is working to improve health care through research. Unlike research studies that focus on one disease or group of people, *All of Us* is building a diverse database that can inform thousands of studies on a variety of health conditions. This creates more opportunities to: - Know the risk factors for certain diseases - Figure out which treatments work best for people of different backgrounds - Connect people with the right clinical studies for their needs - Learn how technologies can help us take steps to be healthier **What Makes *All of Us* Different** **What Makes the *All of Us* Research Program Different** - **Breadth.** With a goal of enrolling one million or more participants in the United States, *All of Us* is building one of the largest health databases of its kind. As the amount of data grows, patterns will emerge that wouldn’t be visible at a smaller scale. - **Diversity.** The program is enrolling a large group of people that reflects the diversity of the United States. This includes people who haven’t taken part in or have been left out of health research before. *All of Us* welcomes participants of all backgrounds and walks of life, from all regions of the country, whether they are healthy or sick. - **Depth.** *All of Us* collects many types of data, including data from surveys, electronic health records, and blood and urine tests. Over time, participants may share data in new ways, using wearable fitness trackers and other technologies. This will help researchers get a more complete picture of factors that affect health and disease. - **Duration.** The initial plan for the program spans 10 years, but it may last even longer. Working with participants over the long term means the program can gather more information that will help researchers find out how health and disease change over time. - **Innovation.** *All of Us* is working to take research to a new level. The program is working with participants across the country, collecting many types of information over time, and building a [database](https://www.researchallofus.org/) that many researchers can use. This new model could shape how people do research in the future. *All of Us* will share lessons about what works well with other research programs around the world. - **Access.** *All of Us* aims to make it easy for a variety of researchers—from university professors to citizen scientists—to make discoveries using the program’s data. Multiple systems and processes keep data secure and participants’ personal information private. - **Engagement.** [Participants are partners](https://allofus.nih.gov/about/who-we-are/all-us-participant-partners) in *All of Us.* Participant input is welcome on every aspect of the program to make it better. Participants will have full access to data they share and information about all research projects that use *All of Us* data.