CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A national research program has made a pit stop in Corpus Christi! The program's goal is to speed up health research so that it's easier to find cures and mediations for diseases people suffer from.
It's the ‘All of Us’ Research Bus -- a research program touring across the country with a goal to get at least one million people to share information about their health and habits to help improve medicine.
“We're looking at genetics lifestyle and environments to see what makes you unique,” said Mel Lopez, tour manager of the ‘All of Us’ program.
If you drove down SPID today, you probably noticed a big blue bus. And it's in town all week, gathering information.
Because who doesn't want an effective cure for their specific illness?
“Wouldn't it be awesome when you go to the clinic, we can treat you personally instead of ‘Hey, this might work, or 'This might work,' ” said Lopez.
The problem is that researchers have very little information about the Latino, Asian, and African American communities; and that's what organizers of the ‘All of Us’ program want to change.
"There haven’t been enough studies done for my family, or my community as a Hispanic Latino,” said Lopez. “We make up 16 percent of the population, and only one percent has been represented in medical studies.”
The ‘All of Us’ research bus will have a questionnaire portion, physical, and genetic or blood testing.
It's all voluntary -- you only have to give as much information as you're comfortable with.
And if you're tech savvy, you can experiment with virtual reality.
After all, it’s for health purposes.
“You can see what it’s like to have smart lenses or you can see what it’s like to have a prosthetic limb," Lopez said. "We can also do food allergy testing.”
It only takes about 30-45 minutes to go through the program, it's free, and people who do it will get a $25 dollar e-gift card for participating.
The research bus will be back at La Palmera Mall on Tuesday. It will move to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi on Wednesday-Friday.