The University of Kansas Health System is preparing to enroll hundreds of thousands of participants in a new research initiative focused on medical diversity. Beginning Wednesday, Aug. 14, the health system will start accepting participants for the All of Us research program, an effort led by the National Institutes of Health. 

KU Health officials highlighted that the program aims to advance precision medicine, allowing clinicians to customize patient care by considering individual differences in biology, behavior, and environment. To achieve this, the program has established a national research resource that will include comprehensive, de-identified health data from a diverse range of participants.

The program will be led by the Heartland Consortium, a collaboration of academic medical centers from the University of Kansas, the University of Iowa, the University of Missouri, and the University of Nebraska.