AAHD expands collaboration with National Institutes of Health's All of Us Research Program

The American Association on Health and Disability (AAHD) is excited to expand its collaboration with the National Institutes of Health's All of Us Research Program.

AAHD plans to significantly increase the participation of persons living with disabilities in the All of Us Research Program by establishing the National Consortium for Disability Inclusion made up of over 20 national, state, and local disability organizations; host a series of listening sessions; and conduct national engagement and local outreach events in six target markets: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, and Miami. The outreach strategies and events will aim to educate, enroll, and engage more people with disabilities about the benefits of precision medicine research.

AAHD invites people with disabilities to advance precision medicine research in a meaningful, novel way. Precision medicine refers to a specialized approach to treatment and prevention based on an individual's needs, history, and biological makeup. Status quo health care emphasizes the average person, not the individual, and that one-size-fits-all method does not generally serve people with disabilities well.

People with disabilities have been traditionally underrepresented in medical research. This award will help raise awareness of ways people with disabilities can contribute in a significant way. By partnering with 1 million diverse people who share information about themselves over many years, the All of Us Research Program could enable researchers to discover more precise preventions and treatments for a variety of health conditions.

Our community engagement partners provide crucial support to help deliver on the promise of All of Us. Through their continued commitment to the program, they fortify our network of trusted community organizations, provide a vital sounding board to shape our activities and direction, lend their expertise to overcome communities' distrust of research, motivate diverse communities to enroll and remain engaged with our program, and support diverse researchers doing research with All of Us data."

Josh Denny, MD, MS, CEO of the All of Us Research Program

Roberta Carlin, Executive Director of AAHD, states: "We are excited to continue our work with NIH's All of Us Research Program through expanded outreach and retention strategies. Our goal is to offer people with disabilities the knowledge, trust, and empowerment that comes with contributing to a national health database for precision health treatments."