Frequently Asked Questions

You can find the instructions on our Join Us page. If you would like a preview of the enrollment process, please feel free to download our Participant Enrollment Journey Document.

My Reason is a research program inviting many people to help build a diverse health database to help researchers better understand the causes and potential treatments for kidney disease and associated diseases.

Once enrolled in the research program participants provide a biological sample of their blood or saliva. The sample is then used to generate your genomic data. My Reason also will seek permission to collect participant’s health data.
We will de-identify the information we receive from these biological samples and medical records to secure your privacy. The data will be stored in a highly secured database that will be shared with researchers. The combination of medical and biological information for thousands of individuals with kidney disease and associated conditions is important. It may help researchers to better understand the causes and potential treatments for kidney disease and other medical conditions. These researchers may develop new drugs or tests for diseases.

Different people have different reasons. Maybe you feel good helping others. Maybe you would like to give your children and grandchildren better options for disease prevention and treatment. Or maybe you just want to pay it forward. Everyone’s — their DNA, health history, and life journey — is unique and important. For this research to work, researchers need lots of information from hundreds of thousands of people. It is your uniqueness and your story that make your contribution to this type of research so important. Just by sharing your DNA and information about your medical history, you can help improve the diagnosis and medical treatment of people all over the world who are impacted by kidney disease and potentially associated health conditions.
Bottom line: Just by being you, you can make a difference!
Research in kidney disease lags behind that of other diseases and finally we can change that. Will you help?

As My Reason continues to enroll participants, the study team will share updates on how this program is contributing to research on our website.

There is no cost to you or to your insurance company for participating in My Reason.

You will not be compensated for participating in My Reason.

There are no medical or monetary benefits to you. However, participating in My Reason may help researchers learn more about human health and diseases, including kidney disease. This may lead to better ways of detecting or treating disease and could potentially help other people in the future.

Your privacy is very important to us, and we will take appropriate safeguards to protect your privacy. We must collect personal identifying information like your name, address, or phone number so that we can document your consent to participate in the program, collect your medical information, and otherwise manage the program. If you consent to participate in My Reason, we will share your identifiable information with our employees or contractors only as necessary to perform their jobs. We will not share information that identifies you, like your name, address, or phone number, with researchers or anyone else without your consent or unless required by law. Under this consent, the study team will take reasonable precautions and will use industry-standard tools to protect the privacy and security of your samples and information collected by the My Reason research program.

As noted above, we will take reasonable precautions to protect the privacy and security of your samples and information collected by My Reason. Although we will provide certain genomic and medical information to researchers, we will not disclose your name or identifiable information about you such as your name or contact information, unless you specifically consent for us to do so.

The information we receive from your sample and medical record will be included in a highly secure database. Before sharing your data with researchers your data will be de-identified to maintain your privacy. The combination of medical and biological information for thousands of individuals with kidney disease and associated conditions is important. It may help researchers to better understand the causes and potential treatments for kidney disease and other medical conditions. These researchers may develop new drugs or tests for diseases.