U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
July 21, 2023
Dear Tribal Leader:
The National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program aims to accelerate health research and medical breakthroughs to enable an era of precision medicine for all. All of Us is committed to ensuring the program reflects the diversity of the United States, including American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) and Indigenous communities, while respecting Tribal sovereignty.
As part of ongoing efforts to keep Tribal leaders informed about the program and seek further input, the program will be hosting a virtual Tribal Consultation on September 28, 2023, with federally recognized AI/AN Tribes. A Federal Register notice was released on June 28, 2023, with details. The Consultation will include an update on our approach to Tribal engagement and discussion about integrating data from self-identified AI/AN participants in the program’s data platform, the All of Us Researcher Workbench at ResearchAllofUs.org. We will also be discussing efforts to advance more health discoveries by making this resource more broadly accessible to researchers, including those from international academic, not-for-profit, and health care organizations and industry. Data from self-identified AI/AN participants is not currently available to researchers using the Researcher Workbench.
We appreciate your input and participation in the upcoming Tribal Consultation. Please register here to participate. We recognize our work directly impacts AI/AN and Indigenous communities, and the input shared by Tribal Nations is vital to informing program plans regarding data access, use, and protection. Your feedback will guide how researchers may be able to access All of Us AI/AN data in the future.
We invite you to watch recordings of our recent informational sessions with Tribal communities in preparation for the Tribal Consultation on September 28, 2023. You can find guiding questions for the Consultation in our Federal Register notice.
You may send your questions and written testimony about these topics to AOUTribal@nih.gov and NIHTribalConsultation@nih.gov. Please submit your written testimony for Tribal Consultation on Tribal letterhead by October 26, 2023, with the subject line “All of Us Tribal Consultation written response.” For more information on our Tribal engagement activities, please visit AllofUs.nih.gov/TribalEngagement.
Thank you for your continued partnership as we work together toward improving the health of American Indian and Alaska Native peoples through research.
Sincerely,
Joshua C. Denny, M.D., M.S. Chief Executive Officer
All of Us Research Program National Institutes of Health
