All of Us Research Program

The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) All of Us Research Program is building one of the largest biomedical data resources of its kind with health data from a diverse group of participants across the United States, including people and communities who have been left out of medical research in the past. Data include biological factors and social determinants of health on a large, inclusive scale that tracks participants as they move, age, and grow (longitudinal study design).  

Data sources include: 

• Electronic Health Records (EHR) standardized using the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) Common Data Model (CDM) 
• Biosamples and bioassays from blood, saliva, and/or urine samples 
• Survey responses on identities and backgrounds, overall health, lifestyles, medical histories, healthcare access, experiences with COVID-19, and more 
• Physical measurements when joining program 
• Heart rate, physical activity, and sleep as tracked by wearable devices

The diverse database, which is a part of the Precision Medicine Initiative, is intended to inform studies on a multitude of heath conditions.
 

What Is Precision Medicine?  

Precision medicine is individualized care that considers the environment, lifestyle, family health history, and genetic makeup of a patient. It acknowledges that certain treatments work differently for people with different backgrounds, treats patients as individuals, and can reduce health care costs by providing the right treatment the first time.

Learn more about precision medicine in this video.  

The Researcher Workbench is a cloud-based platform where registered researchers can access Registered and Controlled Tier data. Data are curated into three datasets and are available for researchers through the All of Us Research Hub and All of Us Researcher Workbench. Learn more about the Researcher Workbench in the Introduction to the Researcher Workbench video.
  

The Research Hub 

The Research Hub is public information. Users will need to register in order to gain access to the data and tools in the Researcher Workbench.
 

Research Projects Directory 

The Research Projects Directory includes information about all projects that currently exist in the Researcher Workbench to help provide transparency about how the Workbench is being used. 
 

Publications  

All Publications using All of Us data are featured within the Research Hub and can be found under the discover tab.
 

Access Tiers 

There are three tiers of data. Because N.C. A&T has a Data Use Registration Agreement (DURA) with the All of Us Research Program, you can access all tiers described below.

Learn more about the tiers in this video and this slide deck.  

• The Public Tier  

  • The Public Tier data contain only aggregate data with identifiers removed and are available using Data Snapshots and the Data Browser. This tier is available regardless of registration status.  

• The Registered Tier  

  • The Registered Tier data contain individual level data from EHRs, wearables, and surveys, as well as physical measurements taken at the time of participant enrollment.

• The Controlled Tier  

  • In addition to the data in the Registered Tier, the Controlled Tier dataset contains genomic data in the form of whole genome sequencing (WGS) and genotyping arrays, previously suppressed demographic data fields from EHRs and surveys, and unshifted dates of events.
     

Researcher Workbench Tools 

Powerful tools in the Researcher Workbench support data analysis and collaboration. These tools include: 

• Shared Workspaces to access, store, and analyze data,  
• Notebooks capable of high-powered queries and analysis using R or Python,  
• A Dataset Builder to search and save collections of health information about cohorts, and  
• A Cohort Builder that allows researchers to create, review, and annotate groups of participant data.
   

Data Curation 

Details on the data curation processes are detailed in the Research Hub.