Health Research

December 17, 2008

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grants $8.6 Million to Kaiser Permanente for Groundbreaking Genetic Research Program

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded $8.6 million to Kaiser Permanente’s Division of Research to support the Research Program on Genes, Environment and Health, which seeks to build the world’s largest repository of genetic, environmental and health data.

Scientists will use the "biobank" as part of a comprehensive research initiative to conduct groundbreaking work to establish the genetic and environmental factors that influence diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, Alzheimer's, and others. Scientists hope to have 500,000 specimens in the biobank by 2012.

"The more we know about the causes of disease, the greater our ability to provide more effective treatment and, ultimately to prevent disease from occurring," says Catherine Schaefer, Ph.D., director of the RPGEH, in the Robert Wood Johnson press release about the grant.

Scientists believe a large biobank will offer a population-based database with enough statistical power to identify subtle effects of environmental and genetic factors in less common health conditions such as mental health disorders or autoimmune diseases.

Grant funding also is being used to develop the policies and procedures that will enable this unique database to be accessible to researchers worldwide.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans. The foundation's Pioneer Portfolio seeks to "support novel, high-return ideas that may have far-reaching impact on people's health, the quality of care they receive and the systems through which that care is provided."

Read more about the Research Program on Genes, the Environment and Health through the Division of Research's Web site, or listen to Catherine Schaefer discuss the latest RPGEH news in this News Center podcast.