The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has recently launched All of Us, a large research program. Part of the Precision Medicine Initiative the mission of All of Us is to speed up health research and medical breakthroughs. To do this, they're asking one million people to provide the type of information that can help create individualized prevention, treatment and care.

The Alzheimer's Impact Movement (AIM) and the Alzheimer's Association supports the program's efforts to enhance research and science to identify new treatments for all health issues, especially Alzheimer's and dementia. All of Us and its participants have the opportunity to change health and health care for generations to come.

In the past, many communities were left out of research, and as a result we don't know as much about how certain diseases or treatments affect people differently. With Alzheimer's, for example, today nearly all dementia-related clinical trial participants are white. This is particularly alarming because African-Americans are two times as likely, and Hispanics nearly one and a half times as likely, to develop Alzheimer's disease than whites. Through our own program, TrialMatch, the Association is working to diversify participation in clinical trials, and through All of Us, we can further secure necessary data to help researchers better understand Alzheimer's.

All of Us want participants to reflect the rich diversity of the United States. It's important that groups underrepresented in biomedical research have an opportunity to contribute to and benefit from health studies. Today, recruiting and retaining clinical trial participants is the greatest obstacle, other than funding, to developing desperately needed new treatments for Alzheimer's.

Through All of Us, participants will provide health information that researchers can use to better understand how differences in people's environments, lifestyle, and biological makeup affect health. The more researchers learn about our individual differences, the more tailored our health care can become.

The success of All of Us and its potential impact on the future of health depend on participants to share their information. We encourage you to consider joining as a way to learn more about your health, represent our community, and create a healthier future for generations to come. Visit joinallofus.org to learn more.