Earlier this semester, a new research initiative arrived on campus: the All of Us Research Program. The incentive was created by the National Institute of Health (NIH) in coordination with the American College Health Association (ACHA) and is present at a number of other universities throughout the country. Case Western Reserve University’s public health manager, Clara Rivera, worked with student engagement ambassadors fourth-year Jamie Muth and second-year Luke Koski to bring the research program to CWRU in January. Since its arrival on campus, a number of students have expressed interest in participating in this exciting program. 

All of Us boasts an ambitious goal of recruiting over one million participants, which now includes students and campus community members here at CWRU. Participants are invited to offer health data to create one of the largest databases of health information in history. Individuals of all backgrounds and lived experiences are welcome to join and share as much or as little health data as they wish. 

When the program was being developed, researchers found that one of the most underrepresented demographics in many health databases in the United States was college-age individuals. Thus, a major community of interest is university students. 

When asked about her experience bringing this exciting new opportunity to CWRU’s campus as a Student Engagement Ambassador, Muth explained, “[The whole process] has been really fulfilling, since a lot of fellow students have mentioned their concern that the healthcare industry does not see them as a complete individual. This program considers a lot of important data that is not usually seen as necessary to healthcare, like someone’s living conditions or socioeconomic status.”

The database will be used to further efforts to make healthcare a more individualized industry, especially for communities who have been previously underserved and marginalized by the medical field. Unlike research projects which 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 will help healthcare practitioners better understand how risk factors, preventative measures, treatments and wellness initiatives can better serve diverse communities. Data from participants will be kept completely confidential and stored in secure servers to avoid potential data leaks. 

Any CWRU students or other members of the campus community are encouraged to join the program as participants by scanning the QR code included below, or by accessing 

https://www.joinallofus.org/students. The All of Us CWRU team hopes to work with as many participants as possible in order to ensure our vibrant campus community is well represented in the dataset. Participants will also receive a gift card and a free genomic dataset, similar to 23andme! 

Luke Koski is a Student Ambassador with All of Us.