Notice Number: NOT-OD-15-159

Key Dates
Release Date: September 21, 2015

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Purpose

In his State of the Union Address on January 20, 2015, President Obama announced his intention to launch a Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) to bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes, and to give all of us access to the personalized information we need to keep ourselves and our families healthier. To achieve the President’s ambitious plan, the PMI Cohort Program (PMI-CP) will build a large research cohort of one million or more Americans reflecting the diversity of the U.S. that will provide the platform for expanding our knowledge of precision medicine approaches and will benefit the nation for many years to come. In March of 2015, NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins formed the PMI Working Group of the Advisory Committee to the Director to develop a plan for creating and managing such a research cohort. To help carry out its charge, the Working Group engaged with stakeholders and members of the public though workshops and requests for information, focusing on issues related to the design and oversight of the cohort. Public engagement, as well as internal discussions among the Working Group, led to the vision for the design and utility of the cohort program outlined in the Working Group’s report. The report was reviewed and endorsed by the Advisory Committee to the Director on September 17, 2015, and available at http://www.nih.gov/precisionmedicine/09172015-pmi-working-group-report.pdf.

Based on the report’s recommendations, the NIH anticipates building a national research cohort of one million or more volunteers who are engaged as partners in a longitudinal, long-term effort to identify the molecular, environmental and behavioral factors that contribute to diverse diseases, to facilitate the development and testing of novel therapies and prevention approaches, and to pioneer mHealth strategies for improving the efficacy of health care. The NIH will explore a variety of options to support the development of relevant PMI cohort components: participant recruitment through healthcare provider organizations, direct volunteering by individual participants, communications and outreach (including participant engagement), biorepository and laboratory functions, mobile health technologies, and coordination of the overall effort. Interested entities with expertise and insights into these broad areas are encouraged to watch the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts for further information.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Email: precisionmedicine@od.nih.gov