If I was 18 again and starting off to college in a couple of weeks, the field I would be most interested in pursuing would be genetic counseling. This career existed when I was in school, but to be honest, I’d never heard of it. I became a communication major more by default than anything else – I’d always enjoyed reading and writing, didn’t know what else I wanted to do, and there wasn’t a strict progression of required courses, so it made the scheduling easier. It wasn’t until after I graduated and found myself unsatisfied with my first “real job” and browsing potential graduate degrees and schools that I realized genetic counseling was an actual career option. Even then, had I met the basic pre-requisites I probably would have applied for the program based on sheer curiosity.
I’ve always thought genetics and their link to health was fascinating, but while I’ve communicated about and written for assorted science and health-based organizations over the course of my career, I don’t have a science background myself. Instead of backtracking and taking the undergraduate classes I would have needed, I moved ahead and got a Master’s degree in communication to match my undergraduate degree. I don’t regret that decision; I’ve been lucky enough to work for some fantastic organizations across a variety of topics I was interested in, while doing something I’m good at and that comes naturally to me.
That being said, I’m still intrigued by genetics and the possibilities of personalized medicine. The technology and knowledge base are changing rapidly – it’s amazing to think about what we know now that we didn’t only a few years ago, and to imagine the potential discoveries yet to come. That’s why I was thrilled to hear about the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us research program.
At the beginning of summer, NIH opened enrollment into the program with the goal of signing up 1 million individuals across the United States, particularly focusing on groups typically under-represented in research. Participants will share information about their health, lifestyles, etc. in order for researchers to examine potential patterns that could help develop personalized, precision medicine. There’s no compensation involved in participating, but you can receive information specific to you over time.
I joined the program. At this point, that has involved nothing more than filling out a few forms and health surveys online. I’m hoping to be selected to provide more information, and eventually to learn more about my genetic makeup, health risks, and personalized treatments.
Along with enrolling as a participant, I also reached out to several organizations that received contracts to help communicate about and promote the program to learn more about how they were actively recruiting participants or working with the NIH more broadly. I was genuinely surprised at how welcoming companies were to these conversations, seeing as they had no prior connection with me, and it was interesting to hear about the different approaches, levels of involvement, and funding. Unfortunately, none of them needed additional outside communication support (if this changes, I hope they call me!), but that hasn’t made the endeavor any less interesting to me. It’s ambitious, it’s new, and it’s exactly the type of long-term and wide-scale research that the government should be funding and conducting. So while I might not be getting paid to do so, I’m encouraging others to sign up for All of Us as well – the more diverse participants that enroll, the better the data and the chances that researchers can learn how to prevent and target diseases in the best way for each individual. It takes a village! Or in this case, a country.
