Meredith Cohn
Baltimore Sun
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is looking for a few good men and women to volunteer for a battle it’s waging at home — against disease.
Actually, more than a few are needed. Officials overseeing health care for the nation’s veterans are undertaking what may be the largest effort of its kind in the nation, to collect medical records and blood samples from a million former service members for a bank of genetic information.
The idea is to give researchers enough DNA and other data to link specific genes to mental and physical maladies, from post-traumatic stress disorder to heart disease, and eventually develop new preventive measures or treatments.
Read More: Project seeks 1 million veterans to give blood, DNA for disease research
Cartoon by Bob Moran
