Research Guides: All of Us Research Program: All of Us at SHSU

All of Us Research Program

All of Us Research Program
The All of Us Research Program is part of the NIH effort to increase the diversity of data used in population-based research using crowd-sourced collection methods. The goal of the program is to advance precision medicine and other research that may improve health outcomes by collecting and making accessible data from 1 million or more people living in the United States. This data includes participants from different races, ethnicities, age groups and regions of the country. Researchers can use the data to learn how our biology, lifestyle, and environment affect health. This may one day help them find ways to treat and prevent disease.

SHSU has a Data Use and Registration Agreement (DURA) with the All of Us Research Program, SHSU faculty, students and staff can register for access to the Registered and Controlled tiers of data.

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

All of Us at SHSU

SHSU's Data Use and Registration Agreement (DURA) allows all campus researchers to register for full access to all 3 tiers of the All of Us dataset.

The All of Us Research Program’s centralized, secure, cloud-based platform allows researchers across a wide range of settings and institutions and at all stages of their careers (e.g., students, early-stage investigators) to execute rapid, hypothesis-driven research with just a computer and an Internet connection. All of Us facilitates equity in access in a deliberately inclusive way, creating a demographically diverse researcher cohort.

The Basics of the ALL of Us Dataset

All of Us Institutional Review Board (IRB)

As a single IRB, the All of Us IRB is charged with reviewing the protocol, informed consent, and other participant-facing materials for the All of Us Research Program. The IRB follows the regulations and guidance of the Office for Human Research Protections for all studies, ensuring that the rights and welfare of research participants are overseen and protected uniformly.

IRB 101

What is an IRB?

An IRB, or Institutional Review Board, is responsible for reviewing and approving research to ensure that the rights and welfare of human participants are protected.

What is a participant?

Federal regulations define a participant, or human subject, as “a living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) conducting research obtains (1) data through intervention or interaction with the individual, or (2) identifiable private information.”

How does the All of Us IRB fit in with the All of Us Research Program?

Before the program could begin to recruit and enroll participants, the All of Us IRB had to approve the All of Us protocol and materials

Key takeaways for the researcher: potentially large and representative sample sizes with highly granular data; tools for searching and using this data; and no IRB approval required to use the data. Note: SHSU upon request will provide IRB review for any research proposals.