Together, we can improve the future of health

Medical research is the lifeblood of healthcare innovation. It is essential to researchers’ understanding of disease and, ultimately, how to treat it. But securing active research participants can be quite challenging when you consider what it takes to recruit and retain them, especially across diverse and representative populations. Now, with the launch of the Google Health Studies app, we hope to mitigate some of those challenging aspects. The Health Studies app gives adults in the U.S. with an Android phone a simple and convenient way to contribute to medical research, conducted by some of the world’s most trusted medical institutions.

The first study available on the app is conducted by researchers at the Harvard Medical School and Boston’s Children’s Hospital. It is intended to help them better understand respiratory illnesses such as influenza and COVID-19. I’m excited about the additional studies that will become available next year. 

The app not only gives people a way to discover and participate in studies, but also provides researchers a platform to reach a larger and more diverse population, more important than ever since we know some health issues impact racial groups in different ways. Evidence suggests that minority groups’ lack of access to the research community contributes to the low percentage of minority participants.[I] The Google Health Studies app can be a critical part of encouraging diverse participation across populations.

We designed the app  to ensure we could keep participants' information safe and that their information would be treated responsibly, so all potential audiences will feel comfortable participating in medical research through the app. We also made it a point to make sure that they stay  in control of their information. In fact, when people use the Google Health Studies app, their data is protected with advanced security, meaning all information is encrypted and research data is stored securely. Privacy matters to us.

As a physician myself, I know the value of medical research and the health innovations that can result from it. The insights from medical research can literally transform our understanding of disease and how to treat it, but only if enough people from all walks of life are part of the journey. The Google Health Studies app gives people an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the future of their own health as well as the communities around them.

[I] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9571/