The Duke team in Kannapolis, North Carolina gathers after enrolling the first Duke participant in the Project Baseline study.
Duke University School of Medicine today launched the Project Baseline study in North Carolina with the enrollment in Kannapolis of Duke’s first participant. The study is the first initiative of Project Baseline, an ambitious effort to develop a well-defined “baseline” of human health, and a rich data platform to help researchers better understand health and disease and the transitions between them.
Saying he wanted to contribute to a more profound understanding of why people get sick, a Landis, North Carolina resident in his 60s began the comprehensive study assessments at 10 a.m. Thursday, June 29 at Duke’s clinical research office in Kannapolis. Surrounded by a team of researchers and technicians, the volunteer began a unique journey that will span at least four years and include study visits, donation of his biological samples and health information, imaging and other clinical tests, and data collection by a study watch, mobile app and other sensors.
Study coordinator Carla Kingsbury smiles during the enrollment.
Duke will enroll approximately 1,000 participants at two locations in North Carolina — in Kannapolis at the North Carolina Research Campus, as well as in Durham at Duke University Medical Center. Community advisory boards in both Kannapolis and Durham will provide crucial guidance to investigators to maintain the participant-centric mission of the study and ensure its success.
Anyone who is at least 18 years old, a resident of the United States, able to speak and read English or Spanish, and not severely allergic to nickel or metal jewelry may register online at projectbaseline.com to enroll in the Project Baseline registry and be considered for the study. Importantly, participants will be partners in all aspects of the study, having a voice in the direction of the study as members of committees with direct access to study leadership.
A team of more than 40 people at Duke has worked for four years with partners at Stanford Medicine, Verily and Google to develop the Project Baseline study, which will enroll approximately 10,000 people and follow them for at least four years.
“The enrollment of Duke’s first participant is a tremendous milestone and testament to a collaboration between Duke, Stanford, Verily and Google, and, most importantly, our communities, that will bring together experts from academia, medicine, science, technology, engineering and design with participant partners to create a map of human health and potentially identify new warning signs for disease,” said L. Kristin Newby, MD, MHS, a Duke cardiologist and the principal investigator for the Duke site.
P. Kelly Marcom, MD, a Duke oncologist, is the co-principal investigator, and Paul T. Campbell, MD, a cardiologist in Concord, North Carolina, is the site investigator for the Kannapolis location, where Duke enrolled its first participant.
Only through the generous, ongoing participation of thousands of volunteers at Duke and elsewhere can the Project Baseline study hope to reach its ambitious goals. With the enrollment of Duke’s first participant, North Carolina’s role in the journey to map human health has begun.
To learn more, visit projectbaseline.com.