The “All of Us Research Program” opened May 6, 2018. Part of the Precision Medicine Initiative announced by then-President Barack Obama in his January 2015 State of the Union address, this prospective cohort study will eventually enroll 1 million or more adult participants living in the United States. All participants will contribute electronic health records and complete health-related questionnaires. Subsets will also provide biospecimens for genomics and other analysis. Biologic specimens (cell populations, proteins, metabolites, RNA, and DNA – including whole-genome sequencing) and behavioral data, all linked to their electronic health records, will be available to researchers. The overall goal of the All of Us program is to establish a research resource containing biological, clinical, social, and environmental determinants of health and disease. Participants can enroll at a participating institution or can self-enroll through the All of Us website.¹

This study is expected to be foundational to the advancement of precision medicine outside oncology. The investigators hope to gain near-term insights into pharmacogenomics and the identification of individuals with rare loss-of-function mutations associated with chronic diseases that may be targets for drug development.² In addition, the study follows the lead of 23andMe and actively engages participants in the research process (see https://www.joinallofus.org/en). Participants may self-enroll through the All of Us website and receive access to all of their testing and research results through a patient portal.

Precision medicine has already revolutionized the treatment of cancer, and researchers are on the cusp of revolutionizing treatment of several other diseases. Consistent with its strategic plan, ACCP seeks to provide opportunities for developing knowledge and skills in precision medicine that advance clinical pharmacy practice, education, and research. I’m happy to announce that the first of ACCP’s educational programs in precision medicine, a certificate program in Pharmacogenomics led by Dr. Chris Aquilante, will launch this fall. The certificate program will be based in the ACCP Academy and will include online and live programming designed to prepare clinical pharmacists to implement pharmacogenomics in their practices. Further details will be available on the ACCP website in the upcoming months, and the certificate program will launch in the fall of 2018.

All of Us represents a large and rich database for pharmacogenomic research. Although the study is expected to last about 10 years, active enrollment will occur in the first 5 years. The data analysis platform (the All of Us Research Program Research Portal) will be built and available for use by qualified researchers within the second year and available for the life of the program. Given the research interests of many ACCP members and the College’s strategic direction, ACCP is considering strategies for partnering with the All of Us program. I invite all members to contact me at [email protected] if you have thoughts about how ACCP and its members can contribute to this important initiative. I look forward to hearing from you and working together to position ACCP as the leading pharmacy organization supporting precision pharmacotherapy research and implementation.

1. National Institutes of Health (NIH). All of Us Research Program Protocol. Available at https://allofus.nih.gov/about/all-us-research-program-protocol. Accessed May 11, 2018.
2. Collins FS, Varmus H. A new initiative on precision medicine. N Engl J Med 2015;372:793-5.