VA centralizes data for veterans’ genetic and health information

Earlier this month, the Veteran’s Affairs (VA) Office of Research and Development launched a new program called MVP, the Million Veteran Program. This program establishes a partnership between the VA and veterans, specifically creating a centralized data repository that will house the healthcare information from volunteer veterans around the nation. The goal of this is program is to aid researchers in their understanding of how genes affect overall health and potential illness. And once the patients’ data have captured and de-identified, it will then be made available to researchers – MVP has implemented stringent security measures to ensure that the Veteran’s information is protected.

The program will capture the following information from volunteers:

· Health related information such as medical history, health-related behaviors

· DNA and additional information extracted form blood sample

· A health assessment

· Future health information through VA-linked medical and health information

Currently this program is only available in nice VA health centers, including Boston, Buffalo, NY, Cleveland, OH, Durham, NC, Gainesville, FL, New York, New York, Palo Alto, CA, Seattle, WA, and West Haven, CT.

This is a first step toward utilizing large data sets and analyzing the link between DNA and illnesses as well as explaining why some individuals respond better to treatment than others. Additional information about this project can be found at the following site: http://www.research.va.gov/MVP/