Having spent a large portion of her career in oncology research, Dr. Joyce Yasko (NURS ’76, EDUC ‘81) knows better than most how important willing participants are to the success of a clinical trial. Now 80 years old, Yasko began her professional journey in the clinical research program at the University of Pittsburgh’s Cancer Institute before joining the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York, where she served as the chief operations officer responsible for clinical research support. An expert in her field, she explained that while research is essential to developing innovative treatments, many patients can be hesitant to share personal and medical information with research teams.
“I saw how difficult it was to get people to participate in research studies. Even though they had cancer, they still were somewhat reluctant to participate. When they did, they were happy that they joined, but it still took a lot of education to get them to understand that the studies we were doing were actually better than the standard of care, they just hadn’t been proven yet,” said Yasko.
Through the University of Pittsburgh’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), Yasko first learned about the All of Us Research Program, a historic effort funded by National Institutes of Health to collect and study data from one million or more people living in the United States. Clinical researchers could finally have access to a growing national database emphasizing precision medicine and individualized health care, meaning better care and better outcomes for future generations.
By participating in the program, “we are helping to create a national database for clinical researchers to utilize to complete their research in a more timely manner,” said Yasko. “Clinical researchers will be able to go from bench to bedside—from doing the research to making the treatments available for human use—much faster.”
The end goal of the All of Us Research Program is not only to create a cohesive database that researchers across the country—and eventually around the world—can easily access, but to fill that database with medically diverse information that can be used to treat individuals with nontraditional or unique illnesses and conditions. Using participant-provided data, the program will analyze variations in environment, lifestyle, family health history, and genetic makeup to ultimately recommend better-matched clinical studies and treatments based on someone’s individual circumstances.
The program officially began enrolling participants in 2018—in fact, Yasko was among the first 10 participants to sign up in the Western Pennsylvania region. Since then, more than 435,000 individuals nationwide have signed up to participate with almost 30,000 enrolling in Pennsylvania, bringing the program nearly halfway to its goal of one million participants in just three years.
To get started, participants are asked to fill out a simple questionnaire with demographic and medical information, provide electronic access to their medical history and attend a brief appointment to measure baseline vitals and provide biomedical samples. After the initial visit, participants are sent questions periodically throughout the year relating to medical events such as whether or not they received a COVID-19 vaccine.
For those like Yasko in the Western Pennsylvania region wanting to participate, CTSI is directing the local All of Us Pennsylvania portion of the study. There are dozens of All of Us clinic and pop-up locations in and around Pittsburgh, Altoona and Erie, including two right on Pitt’s campus in the Clinical and Translational Research Center located in UPMC Montefiore Hospital and on Forbes Avenue by Starbucks.
“For as easy as it is to do and the good that it can accomplish…it’s just the humanitarian thing to do,” said Yasko. “Take a trip to your neighborhood site or to Oakland and participate. It’s a must do.”
For more information about the All of Us Research Program go to joinallofusPA.org.