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The Million Veteran Program is a national research project learning how genes and military experiences and exposures affect health and illness.

Million Veteran Program – After 10 years, nearly a million volunteer Veterans have joined VA scientists to change the future of health care.

On May 12, VA and American Veterans (AMVETS) hosted a Facebook Live to talk about VA genetic research and why your help and involvement is key to making a difference in the future of medicine.

It’s become a clear goal of VA’s Million Veteran Program, one of the world’s largest databases of health and genetic information: encouraging more racial and ethnic diversity in its enrollment, which is now at more than 830,000 in its climb toward 1 million and beyond. The greater the diversity, the program’s leaders believe, the more opportunities for genetic research into groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the medical community.

Rosalie Liotta and Cathy Adkins enrolled in VA’s MVP, which learns how genes, lifestyle, and military exposures affect the health of former service members.

Research based on VA’s Million Veteran Program has identified multiple locations in the human genome related to the risk of re-experiencing traumatic memories, the most distinctive symptom of PTSD.

“Our work will significantly enhance our abilities for early detection, and optimize and individualize breast cancer screening for all women Veterans and women in general.”

The national research project began in 2011 and currently is the largest genomic database in the world with nearly 600,000 Veteran volunteers nationwide.

Findings could yield insights into the causes of the conditions that affect health and identify targets for the development of medications to treat these problems.

VA is leading the way in genomic medicine, the study of DNA to learn about health and diseases. The Million Veteran Program (MVP) is VA’s ambitious initiative to advance genomic research.

So far only 8 percent of MVP enrollees are women. The goal is to increase the number to at least 11 percent in order to have enough women involved for the results to be statistically valid.

VA's Million Veteran Program reached an important milestone when an Army Veteran from Montgomery, Alabama, became the 500,000th to voluntarily enroll in the research database program – making MVP the largest genomic database in the world.