HS/HSL Partnership with the NIH All of Us Research Program
The HS/HSL is pleased to announce a partnership with the NIH All of Us Research Program, part of the Precision Medicine Initiative.
The HS/HSL is one of eight institutions to serve as Regional Medical Libraries in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM). Through a cooperative agreement from the National Library of Medicine, the NNLM will focus on improving consumer access to high quality health information in communities throughout the United States, specifically working with public libraries. [Press Release]
This partnership is a 3-year pilot program to support the All of Us Research Program. Activities in the pilot are designed to:
- Help public libraries support the health information needs of their users;
- Support community engagement through public libraries for All of Us; and
- Operate the All of Us Training Center, the home for training and resources about and related to the program for consumers, health professionals, librarians, and researchers.
“Libraries serve as vital community hubs, and this collaboration presents a perfect opportunity to help the public understand how health research impacts all of us,” said Patricia Flatley Brennan, R.N., Ph.D., director of NLM. “Working with our vast network of public libraries, we hope to contribute to medical breakthroughs that may lead to more tailored disease prevention and treatment solutions for generations to come.”
The All of Us Research Program aims to build one of the largest, most diverse datasets of its kind for health research, with one million or more volunteers nationwide who will sign up to share their information over time. Researchers will be able to access participants’ de-identified information for a variety of studies to learn more about the biological, behavioral and environmental factors that influence health and disease. Their findings may lead to more individualized health care approaches in the future.
Melissa Walker, ATR, moved to the National Capital Region to work for the Department of Defense after earning a Master’s in Art Therapy from NYU. Melissa served as art therapist on Walter Reed’s inpatient psychiatric unit before transferring to the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE). There, Melissa developed and implemented the NICoE Healing Arts Program to explore the integration and research of the creative arts therapies for service members with traumatic brain injury and psychological health concerns. Melissa also acts as lead art therapist for Creative Forces: the NEA/Military Healing Arts Network – a collaboration aimed to expand arts access for the military population. Since its inception the NICoE’s art therapy program has gained international recognition, including a National Geographic Magazine cover story and Melissa’s TEDMED talk featured as TED’s “talk of the day.”
