All of Us Research Program Partnership

A photo a group of people with the "All of Us" logo superimposed on top

Disability Community Engagement Partner Project

In September 2021, AAHD became a core community engagement partner with the All of Us Research Program. With funding from the National Institutes of Health, AAHD joined a cohort of seven national partners engaged in outreach to communities traditionally underrepresented in health research. Through a network of Disability Consortium partners, AAHD is leading a national effort to engage people with disabilities in health research through All of Us. Our project is called the Disability Community Engagement Partner Project (DCEPP).

The All of Us Research Program is a historic effort to accelerate research that may improve health by gathering data from one million or more people living in the United States. By taking into account individual differences in lifestyle, environment, and biology, researchers will have more information to better understand health and disease. By learning more about what makes people unique, All of Us hopes to build the largest, most diverse health database to advance individualized care, or what’s called “precision medicine”. The program is dedicated to building trusted partnerships between the medical community and communities historically underrepresented in health research.

Read the original NIH award announcement and our press release from the project launch. For more information about the project, contact:

News to Use

Prior Outreach (2018-2021)

In May 2018, NIH began national enrollment for the All of Us Research Program. This marked the start of an ambitious effort to advance individualized treatment and care for people of all backgrounds, including people with disabilities. AAHD started outreach with the All of Us Research Program in 2018 through a partnership with HCM Strategists (later Pyxis Partners) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). From 2018-2021, AAHD conducted national outreach on the program using social media, webinars, newsletters and conference exhibits, and assisted All of Us in developing disability-focused communications for why people with disabilities should participate in the program. AAHD worked with 8 different sites across the country and assisted them in building awareness potential participants in their communities.

These partner sites included:

  • Atlantis Community, Inc. – Denver, CO
  • Boston Center for Independent Living – Boston, MA
  • Center for Independence of the Disabled, NY – New York, NY
  • Independent Living Research Utilization – Houston, TX
  • Lakeshore Foundation – Birmingham, AL
  • Progress Center for Independent Living – Chicago, IL
  • University of Montana Rural Institute – Missoula, MT
  • University of New Mexico Center for Development and Disability – Albuquerque, NM