The Million Veteran Program (MVP)

[tomas1]

I recently joined this project.
I don't know what exactly they are researching for, but I decided to go ahead and join in.
I went to the VA hospital in Phoenix and that really wasn't easy to get around.
I don't use VA for health care or meds.

I hate to complain, but the nurse who took my blood was a very sweet, nice woman, but wasn't good at doing that.
I have blood draws every 6 months elsewhere with no problems.

Any thought on the project from vets here?

[GoodWood]

Here is a page from the VAs Website that has lots of information about it.

https://www.mvp.va.gov/pwa/#/public/faq

As for the RN who did your blood draw, some are better than others. But even the best have an off day. I’m giving everyone credit for just showing up after 2+ years of COVID.

[Martin6469]

I joined MVP four years ago. It's a giant many-decades-long statistical analysis of how DNA differences affect disease tendencies. The blood sample is for mapping your DNA, which is then supposed to be encrypted and anonymized, so insurance companies, for example, can't get it.

I don't use the VA either due to poor experiences, but I like the idea of helping medical research, and my little bit of help will still be used after I'm dead.

[tomas1]

Martin, I didn't realize the project had been going for that long.
I joined for the same reason you did.
They mentioned checking for environmental effects due to where we served.
I don't believe there were any in Korea in 57/58 though.

[Martin6469]

Hi Tomas: I didn't mean to say that MVP has been going for decades, just that it's planned to go for many decades. I think it started eight or nine years ago. Given the complexity of biology, it could go on indefinitely. It's bigger than the VA; it involves other researchers at the national laboratories and other places. Only a minority of the work involves vets' environmental exposures. Some of the studies are shown at mvp.va.gov. One of interest to FT guys attempts to distinguish between slow- and fast-growing prostate cancers. (I don't suppose they'll ever work on ED issues, given the heavy supply of killer diseases.)

Yes, I think the first chemical exposure problem for vets was Agent Orange in 'Nam. Some Army guys were exposed to fallout from Nevada atom bomb tests in the early '50s, but you were thankfully too young to be there!

[tomas1]

I did understand that the project hasn't been going on for decades, but didn't realize it would be ongoing.
I did sign a paper saying they can access my medical records.

When I first got to Korea in Jan 57, I was in the 31st regiment of the 7th div. I was TDYed to an NCO academy and one job I had was showing training films. One showed troops happily marching across ground zero of an a-bomb test.

I believe that happened a couple years before I enlisted.