The Greater Midwest Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine announced the Wayne State University Vera P. Shiffman Medical Library as an award recipient of the 2019-2020 NNLM All of Us Ambassador Program.

The funding is the result of a partnership between the National Library of Medicine and All of Us, a National Institutes of Health research program that seeks to enroll 1 million or more people living in the United States to accelerate breakthroughs in precision medicine and to advance treatment and prevention.

The Shiffman Medical Library in the School of Medicine will receive up to $100,000 to be used to educate the community, who can in turn become health information advocates throughout Detroit.

“Rooted in health literacy, health citizenship and patient advocacy, health information advocates use information strategically to advance their health toward an intended goal,” said LaVentra Danquah, librarian and principal investigator for the grant.

Danquah will work with new and long-term partners to offer the community various educational offerings while building awareness of the NIH All of Us Research Program, a precision medicine initiative. A portion of the award will fund a part-time project assistant who will help develop training and informational sessions for the Detroit Public Library, Michigan’s largest public library system. The grant will enable the Shiffman Medical Library and its partners to continue to enrich the lives of the community with access to key health information deemed important by the community.

The Shiffman Medical Library is a 10-year Partner Outreach Library for the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Greater Midwest Region.

Working with a dedicated and exemplary Library Outreach Advisory Council, Shiffman Medical Library has a reputation for offering content-rich programs on local health issues featuring leading health and medical experts.

“Shiffman Library is extremely excited by this opportunity to collaborate with the NNLM in bringing unique educational programming to southeast Michigan. The All of Us grant will be instrumental in helping us achieve our goal of developing informed health citizens in our diverse communities,” said Shiffman Medical Library Director Sandra Martin.

Learn more about the National Network of Libraries of Medicine and the All of Us Research Program partnership at https://nnlm.gov/all-of-us.