Blueprint in hand, NIH embarks on study of a million people

Hoping to avoid the potholes that recently wrecked a similarly ambitious study of children, a panel of human geneticists, medical researchers, and other experts today proposed a blueprint for the National Institutes of Health's (NIH's) plan to recruit 1 million Americans for a long-term study of genes and health. The study, which hopes to recruit its first volunteers next year and could last a decade or longer, may become the largest national study of this kind in the world.

For NIH Director Francis Collins, the project, known as the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) Cohort Program, brings to fruition an idea he first proposed 11 years ago. “I am so excited to see this dream come to life,” Collins said in a statement released after he accepted the blueprint. “[It] will be a broad, powerful resource for researchers working on a variety of important health questions.”

President Obama called for a large national research study in January as part of a broader effort to use genetics and health information to tailor medical care to individuals. Several countries, including the...