Our Future Health

Our Future Health is a British health research project which aims to recruit 5 million people "to develop new ways to prevent, detect and treat diseases".[1][2][3][4] It is a registered charity in England and Wales[5] and in Scotland,[6] and a registered company.[7] The charity was originally known as Early Disease Detection Research Project UK (EDRP UK) and the project as Accelerating Detection of Disease (ADD).[8][9]

The project aims to improve the early diagnosis and treatment of diseases. The project chair, Sir John Bell, said that the project aims "to try and create a sandbox for testing and evaluating these early diagnostic or prevention strategies across a large population of people ... And we'll be able to use that population to help us evaluate these new tools, diagnose disease early, prevent disease more effectively, and intervene at an earlier stage".[2]

Participation in the project is open to anyone aged over 18 and living in the United Kingdom. Participants are asked to complete a questionnaire about their health and lifestyle, and to attend a clinic to give a blood sample.[10] Clinics to enrol people into the project and take the initial blood sample were set up at venues including university campuses[11] and branches of Boots.[12]

The project has the support of the government, the life sciences industry, the NHS, and charities such as Alzheimer's Society, British Heart Foundation, and Cancer Research UK.[2]