title: Million Veteran Program: A mega-biobank to study genetic influences on health and disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the design and ongoing conduct of the Million Veteran Program (MVP), as an observational cohort study and mega-biobank in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data are being collected from participants using questionnaires, the VA electronic health record, and a blood sample for genomic and other testing. Several ongoing projects are linked to MVP, both as peer-reviewed research studies and as activities to help develop an infrastructure for future, broad-based research uses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Formal planning for MVP commenced in 2009; the protocol was approved in 2010, and enrollment began in 2011. As of August 3, 2015, and with a steady state of ≈50 recruiting sites nationwide, N = 397,104 veterans have been enrolled. Among N = 199,348 with currently available genotyping data, most participants (as expected) are male (92.0%) between the ages of 50 and 69 years (55.0%). On the basis of self-reported race, white (77.2%) and African American (13.5%) populations are well represented.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  By helping to promote the future integration of genetic testing in health care delivery, including clinical decision making, the MVP is designed to contribute to the development of precision medicine.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Area Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, USA; Department of Internal Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: John Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gaziano
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Research Center (CERC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, 950 Campbell Avenue, 151B, West Haven, CT 06516, USA; Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. Electronic address: john.concato@va.gov.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Concato
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Area Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, USA; Department of Internal Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brophy
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Area Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, USA; Department of Internal Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fiore
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Area Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
authors.forename: Saiju
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pyarajan
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Area Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Breeling
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Area Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
authors.forename: Stacey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Whitbourne
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Area Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deen
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Area Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
authors.forename: Colleen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shannon
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts Area Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S. Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Humphries
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Research Center (CERC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, 950 Campbell Avenue, 151B, West Haven, CT 06516, USA; Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guarino
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Research Center (CERC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, 950 Campbell Avenue, 151B, West Haven, CT 06516, USA; Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Mihaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aslan
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Research Center (CERC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, 950 Campbell Avenue, 151B, West Haven, CT 06516, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Clinical Epidemiology Research Center (CERC), VA Cooperative Studies Program, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, 950 Campbell Avenue, 151B, West Haven, CT 06516, USA.
authors.forename: Rene
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: LaFleur
authors.affiliation: Office of Research and Development, Veterans Health Administration, 810 Vermont Avenue N.W., 10P9, Washington, DC 20420, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hammond
authors.affiliation: Office of Research and Development, Veterans Health Administration, 810 Vermont Avenue N.W., 10P9, Washington, DC 20420, USA.
authors.forename: Kendra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schaa
authors.affiliation: Office of Research and Development, Veterans Health Administration, 810 Vermont Avenue N.W., 10P9, Washington, DC 20420, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moser
authors.affiliation: Office of Research and Development, Veterans Health Administration, 810 Vermont Avenue N.W., 10P9, Washington, DC 20420, USA.
authors.forename: Grant
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Office of Research and Development, Veterans Health Administration, 810 Vermont Avenue N.W., 10P9, Washington, DC 20420, USA.
authors.forename: Sumitra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muralidhar
authors.affiliation: Office of Research and Development, Veterans Health Administration, 810 Vermont Avenue N.W., 10P9, Washington, DC 20420, USA.
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Przygodzki
authors.affiliation: Office of Research and Development, Veterans Health Administration, 810 Vermont Avenue N.W., 10P9, Washington, DC 20420, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: O'Leary
mesh_terms: D018070:Biological Specimen Banks / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D005260:Female; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012107:Research Design; D017421:Sequence Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014728:Veterans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Cohort studies; Exome sequencing; Genomics; Genotyping; Veterans; Whole-genome sequencing