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Your gift to the future
• I WOULD like to draw readers’ attention to an exciting research project which will have a major impact on the health of future generations.
UK Biobank is writing to thousands of people aged 40 to 69 in the area, asking them to give up 90 minutes of their time to help us find out much more about a wide range of life-threatening and debilitating illnesses, from cancer and heart disease to diabetes, stroke, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, arthritis, depression and dental health.
Invited participants are asked to attend an assessment centre at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry Clinical Trials Unit, in Charterhouse Square, Smithfield, (they can claim travel expenses) where we ask for their permission to follow their health through medical records over 30 years and more. We also ask them about their current health and lifestyle, and take a few standard body measurements (such as blood pressure, weight, bone density and so on) and a small donation of blood and urine.
This vital information will be stored securely and anonymously for years to come, building a detailed “bank” of information that will be of tremendous value to health researchers in the future.
More information on this pioneering project can be found at www.ukbiobank.ac.uk
RORY COLLINS
UK Biobank principal investigator
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