The Illinois Precision Medicine Consortium (IPMC) All of Us Research Program Site - 1.1. ABSTRACT
The first 7 years of the All of Us Research Program (AoURP) Illinois Precision Medicine
Consortium (IPMC) award has created an impetus for precision health collaboration in Illinois
that will leave a positive legacy for decades both locally and nationally. During the first 5 years
of enrollment, the IPMC has drawn strength from our institutional differences, varied scientific
interests and expertise, broad geographic catchment areas, and diverse patient populations. To
date, we have enrolled a cohort of nearly 43,000 participants from Chicago and greater Illinois,
accounting for nearly 10% of the core AoURP participants nationwide – exceeding all
expectations for diversity through high enrollment (87%) of those underrepresented in
biomedical research (UBR), despite a decreasing trend nationally. Through the COVID-19
pandemic, the IPMC has proven that we can evolve and thrive in a new research context,
pivoting operationally while ensuring representation. This is important as the AoURP seeks new
target populations (i.e., pediatric) and implementation approaches. The experience of leading the
AoURP in Illinois has generated insights, knowledge, best practices, new ideas, and partners to
continue and build upon our work in Chicago and throughout Illinois. This includes a recognition
of the crucial role that authentic and longstanding engagement plays in developing inclusive
biomedical research. We now have fully developed (and constantly expanding) clinical and
community infrastructure, stakeholder buy-in, and integrated workflows. These will continue to
guide IPMC performance and implementation strategies, supported by intentional engagement
investment and integrated expertise. We have identified new scientific partnerships at our Health
Provider Organizations (HPOs) and MPIs, now including an additional minority serving
institution (MSI) with significant UBR engagement expertise. The IPMC offers this proposal, to
fulfill or exceed the AoURP requirements for OTA-22-006 Areas of Interest (AOIs). Under the
direction of the AoURP and NIH, for AOI 1- Community, Participant and Provider Engagement,
Enrollment and Retention, we will work with AoURP leadership and stakeholders nationally and
IPMC-wide to engage and recruit a targeted 50,000 diverse core participants in Illinois during
the 5-year award period. We plan to recruit at least 85% UBR into the AoURP by leveraging
established leadership and frontline teams, infrastructure, workflows, and new engagement
partnerships. We will work collectively to achieve the engagement, enrollment, and retention
(active and passive) milestones outlined by the AoURP and implement the protocol fully and
flexibly as national approaches, milestone priorities, and strategies and priorities evolve. To
achieve these aims, the IPMC proposes to maintain our HPO institutional membership
(University of Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Illinois Chicago, NorthShore
University HealthSystem, and Rush University, with subcontracts at University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign and University of Illinois Peoria) with Dr. Habibul Ahsan serving as the
contact PI with MPIs Daviglus, Greenland, Aschebrook, Ho, Shah, Sanders, Pirzada, and Soares.
We will also add a crucial engagement partnership with Governors State University, an MSI with
Drs. Balthazar and Roberson joining as MPIs. Over the last 5 years, IPMC partners have
demonstrated complementary reach into diverse patient populations while balancing key AoURP
metrics (UBR engagement, high quality data, enrollment, and retention). We are confident that
our 5-year plan will bring significant value to the AoURP, with an engaged and diverse
participant population based in Illinois that will ultimately enable discovery and promote equity
in the communities we collectively serve and beyond.
