The Million Veteran Program: A Review - Essay Example

These data are presently being used in gene studies to discover diseases that are hereditary as well as to better understand existing diseases. In the future, these studies can be used to help in screening, diagnosing and treating genetic in order to improve healthcare for the veterans and the rest of the American population. Introduction The Million Veteran Program (MVP) is the new program launched by the Veterans Affairs (VA) Research and Development which is a partnership between VA and Veterans to learn more about how genes affect health and to improve health care for Veterans.

In order to do achieve this, MVP is planning to establish one of the largest databases of genetic, military exposure, lifestyle, and health information. Research findings based on MVP may lead to new ways of preventing and treating illnesses in Veterans (Department of VA 2011). The Million Veteran Program’s goal is to consolidate genetic, military exposure, health, and lifestyle information together in one single database that is accumulated by the VA. The database can be used only by authorized researchers and agencies or institutions of the VA, other federal health agencies, and academic institutions within the U.S. in a confidential manner to conduct health and wellness studies in order to determine which genetic variations are associated with particular health issues.

Research Methods and Data Collection Veterans and other Americans stand to benefit greatly as researchers learn more about the effects of genes on health. Screening, diagnosis, and treatment for some illnesses such as some forms of cancer have already been improved through knowledge about the effects of certain genes as well as lead to better treatments and preventive measures for many diseases, including common illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. This program will lead to new knowledge about which genes put people at risk for certain diseases, and which ones can affect how people respond to treatment (Department of VA 2011).

The question is what kinds of data can be taken from this project and how can they be used and assimilated? The data collection techniques usually done in Health Service Research would include: use of available information observing; interviewing; administering written questionnaires, focus group discussions (Ethiopian Public Health Association 2005). The following are the methods of data gathering as well as the data that MVP did in the program: surveys that the veterans filled out about health and health-related behaviors; blood sample from the veterans containing DNA and other substances that will be stored for future research.

These data will be taken by the MVP and will make up the database that the Veteran’s Association is planning to make. Use of Data Acquired from MVP At present the data gathered that became part of the MVP database which is at present the largest genomic database worldwide, are used for research that involve identification and validation of genomic associations; genomic customization of treatment; observational studies to be validated by clinical trials; population surveillance (illnesses following deployment; studies validating the effectiveness of using genomic data in the healthcare system (Leary 2011).

The genomic data are derived from the blood samples given voluntarily by the Veterans who entered program while those use for the population surveillance were taken from the surveys completed at the time the