How can we help prevent diseases and detect them earlier? Do you want to be part of the answer, while also learning about your own health?
An ambitious new health research programme is inviting University of Manchester students to do just that.
Our Future Health is designed to help researchers discover new ways to prevent, detect and treat common diseases like cancer, diabetes, and dementia. The programme, which recently launched in Manchester, is bringing together up to five million volunteers aged 18 and over from across the country. That means it will be the UK’s largest ever health research programme.
Our Future Health – How will the research programme work? – YouTube
People volunteering to join Our Future Health are asked to fill out an online questionnaire about their lifestyle, give consent for the programme to link to their existing health records, provide a small sample of blood and have some physical measurements taken.
When taken together, the information will create an incredibly detailed picture of the nation’s health. Researchers will be able to analyse it to find new ways of tackling diseases, so that future generations can live in good health for longer.
Our Future Health also offers volunteers the opportunity to get feedback on their health, including cholesterol and blood pressure checks. By joining the programme now, volunteers will have the option in the future to receive further feedback about their risk of disease.
To join Our Future Health today, simply click this link. Appointments to provide a blood sample are available in Manchester city centre, at the Boots on Market Street, and take around 20 minutes. A dedicated pop-up clinic will also be opening soon.
William Dixon is a Professor of Digital Epidemiology at the University of Manchester, and the chair of Our Future Health’s Scientific Advisory Board. He said: “Our Future Health is a hugely exciting programme. It will provide the research community with incredibly rich data, potentially leading to major new discoveries that could change the game in how we tackle diseases that blight the population.
“The programme needs to recruit people from all backgrounds in order to learn about the health of everyone in society. I hope all students at the University of Manchester will consider signing up to Our Future Health. This is our opportunity to be part of the answer.”