The Brain Charity

How can we help prevent diseases and detect them earlier? Do you want to be part of the answer, while also learning about your own health?

An ambitious new health research programme is inviting The Brain Charity’s clients, staff and supporters to do just that.

Our Future Health is designed to help researchers discover new ways to prevent, detect and treat common diseases like cancer, diabetes, and dementia.

The programme, which recently launched in London, West Yorkshire, Manchester and West Midlands, is bringing together up to five million volunteers aged 18 and over from across the country. That means it will be the UK’s largest ever health research programme.

People volunteering to join Our Future Health are asked to fill out an online questionnaire about their lifestyle, give consent for the programme to link to their existing health records, provide a small sample of blood and have some physical measurements taken.

When taken together, the information will create an incredibly detailed picture of the nation’s health. Researchers will be able to analyse it to find new ways of tackling diseases, so that future generations can live in good health for longer.

Our Future Health also offers volunteers the opportunity to get feedback on their health, including cholesterol and blood pressure checks. By joining the programme now, volunteers will have the option in the future to receive further feedback about their risk of disease.

To join Our Future Health today, simply click this link. Appointments to provide a blood sample are currently available at the Boots store in London Piccadilly, Nottingham, Dudley, Bradford Broadway Shopping Centre, Birmingham High Street and Manchester Market Street with more locations across London opening in November. In addition appointments are available in Leeds, Huddersfield and Walsall.

Dr Andrew Roddam, CEO of Our Future Health said: “Millions of people in the UK and around the world spend many years of their later life in poor health.

Our Future Health aims to tackle this and help people live healthier lives for longer, by creating the UK’s largest ever health research programme to prevent, detect and treat diseases. 

“By building a world-leading health research resource that truly reflects the UK population our goal is to develop a more detailed understanding of what makes some people more likely to develop certain health conditions, so more effective tests and treatments can be developed in the future.”

The Brain Charity’s SPOTLIGHT ON series highlights the work being carried out to raise awareness of different conditions by charities, groups and individuals. To submit an article, please email us.