Due to a printing error, SELECT ID numbers were not printed in the SELECT Newsletter mailed to all participants in late January 2013. SELECT participants should watch their mail for a blue postcard containing their SELECT ID number. Posted 2/20/2013

Million Veteran Program

Many SELECT participants are veterans. And many of you were enrolled on SELECT at a VA institution. So we want to assist the VA with their recruitment to the Million Veteran Program (MVP) that opened in May 2011. The following information was taken from http://www.research.va.gov/mvp/.

MVP is a national, voluntary research program conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Research & Development. The goal of MVP is to partner with Veterans receiving their care in the VA Healthcare System to study how genes affect health. To do this, MVP will build one of the world's largest medical databases by safely collecting blood samples and health information from one million Veteran volunteers. Data collected from MVP will be stored anonymously for research on diseases like diabetes and cancer, and military-related illnesses, such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Once a veteran decides to participate in MVP, he or she provides a blood sample from which DNA can be extracted and also completes a baseline health survey (a separate, lifestyle survey is optional). Participating veterans also agree to allow access to their VA electronic health record (EHR), which includes longitudinal data on their care.

MVP enrolled its 100,000th volunteer research participant in November 2012, and now stands at more than 110,000 enrollees, marking a major milestone in the nearly 90-year history of VA research.

MVP is now at 40 VA medical centers nationwide, with additional VA sites opening for enrollment in 2013.

For a list of current participating VA locations, go to http://www.research.va.gov/mvp/. Keep checking the website on updates when MVP may be open for enrollment at your VA medical center. For more information, contact the MVP Information Center toll-free at 866-441-6075.

Canadian Clinical Trial Information

Canada Trials: http://www.canadatrials.com/Links.php

CanadaTrials.com is a public source of information for patients, families and physicians, listing a searchable database of Clinical Research Trials that are actively enrolling patients in Canada. In addition CanadaTrials.com offers the latest medical and health news with links to the most authoritative information sources updated hourly, and links to general health information and patient support groups.

Health Canada: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/index-eng.php

Health Canada is the Federal department responsible for helping Canadians maintain and improve their health, while respecting individual choices and circumstances. To carry out this responsibility, Health Canada supports activities that:

• Preserve and modernize Canada's health care system
• Enhance and protect the health of Canadians
• Work in partnership with others
• Communicate health promotion and disease prevention

NCIC Clinical Trials Group / NCIC Groupe des essais cliniques: http://www.ctg.queensu.ca/

The NCIC Clinical Trials Group is a cooperative oncology group which carries out clinical trials in cancer therapy, supportive care and prevention across Canada and internationally. It is one of the national programmes and networks of the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (CCSRI), and is supported by the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS). If you are a cancer patient, your doctor can explain how this information applies to you, or you can call the Cancer Information Service of the Canadian Cancer Society at 1-888-939-3333.

Did you know?

Per Wikipedia, January (in Latin, Ianuarius) is named after Janus, the god of the doorway; the name has its beginnings in Roman mythology, coming from the Latin word for door (ianua) since January is the door to the year.

This page was last updated on 1/29/2013.