Participate in this Program: What's Involved?

To be eligible for participating in this the research program, you need to be a member of Kaiser Permanente in the Northern California region and be 18 years of age or older.

We are currently (during the first half of 2010) sending enrollment materials to eligible participants in the Richmond/Pinole area of Northern California. We will be contacting eligible participants in other communities in Northern California in the future. If you are interested in participating in the program, we encourage you to look for enrollment materials in the mail.

Participation in the program requires three steps: 

1. Reviewing and signing a consent form, which ensures that you understand what it means to participate in the research program.
2. Providing a blood or saliva sample. We will extract DNA from your sample and, when it is needed for a research project on a specific disease or condition, we will assess your DNA for genetic information.
3. Taking a health survey, which asks for information on your health, your environment, and health-related behaviors that may affect a person’s health (such as smoking and diet).

Once you have completed these steps, information about you will be combined with information from your Kaiser Permanente electronic medical record and joined with information of hundreds of thousands of other Kaiser Permanente members who have chosen to participate in the research program. All of this information will be stored in our databank with survey data and information on health conditions. Scientists will use this information to study the interactions between genes and environment in affecting various health outcomes.

Questions? We are happy to answer any questions about the program, via email or telephone. Materials and program staff are available to help you in English, Spanish, or Chinese. You may call us any time at (866) 369-2157 or contact us by email.