New enrollment location opens by All of Us Research Program at Dothan
The National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program in partnership with UAB Medicine is launching a new enrollment location in Dothan, Alabama. The new location at Health Center South launches Wednesday, March 22.
“We are excited to expand the All of Us Research Program to Dothan and the surrounding region, an area of the state previously underrepresented in the All of Us Southern Network,” said Bruce Korf, M.D., Ph.D., associate dean for Genomic Medicine for the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine and contact principal investigator for the Southern Network. “Partnering with the Heersinks and the entire team at Health Center South will open a door into the Wiregrass region and strengthen the rapidly developing relationship between the Heersink family and UAB Medicine.”
Marnix E. Heersink, M.D., and the Heersink family opened The Health Center South Medical Tower, a 200,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art medical complex for doctors of all specialties in 2019. The campus has become a staple in the Dothan community, taking care of an average of 800 patients per day.
“The All of Us Research Program is the culmination of many years of work in our communities, and we are looking forward to an exciting and rewarding collaboration that will lead to improved health outcomes,” Heersink said. “Participants in the All of Us program become our partners. Now we have the ability to partner right here in our own community.”
“Effective community engagement is vital to the success of the All of Us Research Program and would not be possible without the work of our community partners,” he said. “They not only serve as trusted voices by raising awareness about the program, but also relay critical input from diverse communities to help guide our efforts as we seek to accelerate those discoveries and research medical breakthroughs. Participants shape the program with their input and contribute to a project that may improve the health of future generations.”
All of Us aims to partner with at least 1 million people who reflect the diversity of the United States to accelerate medical breakthroughs. About 80 percent of All of Us participants represent communities that have been historically underrepresented in medical research, and nearly 50 percent of All of Us participants identify with a racial or ethnic minority group.
UAB leads the All of Us Southern Network, composed of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. To date, the Southern Network has more than 30,000 core participants, over 24,000 of whom are in Alabama. UAB has enrolled 14,912 core participants.