EP 148: Advancing veteran health through the Million Veteran Program with Dr. Mike Gaziano, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School

This week, we welcome Dr. Mike Gaziano, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center (MAVERIC). Mike is also one of two Principal Investigators of the Million Veteran Program - a national research project in the US looking at how genes, lifestyle, military experiences, and exposures affect health and wellness in veterans. This is a huge undertaking, as Mike describes this project as “the largest health system-based mega-biobank in the world". Join Patrick and Dr. Mike for a discussion on the Million Veteran Program’s research, its integration of extensive data from veterans, and its role in shaping the future of personalized medicine for the veteran community.

0:00 Intro

2:00 Mike’s career prior to the Million Veteran Program (MVP), how Mike got to work on MVP, and important milestones in the project's evolution

8:30 Future goals for the Million Veteran Program in expanding and diversifying the research cohort

11:00 The roles of various omics in advancing the project's development

14:30 The most meaningful outcomes of the Million Veteran Program for Mike since its launch in 2011

19:00 Scaling opportunities after the MVP celebrated enrolling its millionth participant in November 2023

25:00 How to approach securing new funding sources as the MVP expands, while maintaining the trust of veterans in safeguarding their data

27:00 Veterans’ motivation for participating in the project: A New Way to Serve

31:00 How research directly informs patient care in the MVP

39:00 Closing remarks

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