National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program
Defining and Designing a Digital Ecosystem Supporting a Super-Sized Health Research Program
Background
The National Institutes of Health is the sponsor of the All of Us Research Program, a $600 million flagship health program that was launched in America in 2018.
The aim of All of Us is to advance our understanding of health, and illness, across the complex tapestry of Americans living in every corner of the country, from the rolling farmlands to urban centers with a focus on understanding people historically underrepresented in health research. The development of precision medicine tailored to people's specific needs is the end goal.
To meet that goal, the program is actively recruiting over one million American participants to share health information that can be used by approved health researchers on secure All of Us platforms.
Dates: 2016 - 2022
Partner comms agency: WONDROS
The ask
The All of Us operational model is a consortium of program partners across the United States who are awarded funds to support specific aspects of the project.
Media Betty was commissioned to work with WONDROS, various research partners and the NIH team to deliver UX research, participant experience strategies, digital content strategies, UX strategies and UX designs, digital ecosystem strategies and UX evaluations across more than 20 projects over a six year period.
Our work included delivering key deliverables and UX leadership in the highly active planning and launch phases and supporting the digital evolution of the program’s products as the program matured, including through the challenging Covid period.
Key activities
Ecosystem modeling
UX strategy and vision
UX team and capabilities building
User testing
UX research
UX designs and content designs
Proof of concept and beta products UX
Information architecture, content models and inventories
Analytics analysis
UX leadership across teams and projects
Media Betty UX leadership talent was embedded with digital and research teams at WONDROS and the NIH. We worked alongside HPOs, NIH leadership, technology providers, research institutions and community engagement teams to provide research, solutions and products designs to support multiple aspects of the program.
Key projects
JoinAllofUs.org National Awareness, Engagement and Recruitment Websites (Beta, Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Ongoing Optimisations)
ResearchAllofUs.org Research Hub Website Product (Beta, Phase 1, Phase 2, Ongoing Optimisations)
All of Us National Launch Events Website
HPO Partner Microsite Templates
Ongoing UX Reviews across the Ecosystem
HPO Learning Center Product including Data Viz (UX Research, Beta, Phase 1)
Researcher Experience Research, Strategy, Planning and Roadmap Development
Outcome and Impacts
As of February 2025, just over 1.3 million Americans have registered with the program and almost 850,000 Americans have shared relevant health data, as the program nears its 'one million participants' milestone.
There are over 15,000 approved research projects using the programs data to explore health conditions.
The digital ecosystem strategy and design to support the program's recruitment outreach and engagement (national and regional) and to support researcher outreach and engagement continues to work hard and serves as a benchmarking for large-scale programs such as the UK's Our Health.
