{"id":8358,"date":"2024-02-15T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=8358"},"modified":"2024-02-15T19:30:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T19:30:00","slug":"19000-veterans-join-mvp-at-pittsburgh-va","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=8358","title":{"rendered":"19,000 Veterans join MVP at Pittsburgh VA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published:<\/strong> 2024-02-15T19:30:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n

VA in November officially reached 1 million Veteran enrollees in its Million Veteran Program (MVP)<\/a>. The historic number includes 19,000 Veterans who joined through Pittsburgh VA.<\/p>\n

MVP launched in 2011 as a genetic research program and is now the largest such program of its kind in the world. We have participated in MVP from the start, enrolling our 19,000th Veteran in December 2023.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/a>
A few of the million Veterans in the Million Veteran Program<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The 19,000 enrollees include Veterans from southwestern Pennsylvania, including Erie, Butler, Altoona and also Belmont County in Ohio. \u201cWe\u2019ve even had some Veterans from as far as Clarksburg, West Virginia, and Cumberland, Maryland,\u201d said Bea Chakraborty, MVP research coordinator.<\/p>\n

Chakraborty and Cathy Boarts of the MVP team with their friend \u201cGene Nome\u201d are pictured above.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh VA<\/a> is one of 19 sites to have enrolled \u201csuch a phenomenal number of participants,\u201d said Anicka Samuel, MVP national program coordinator. Over 70 VA sites participate in MVP.<\/p>\n

The one million enrollees\u2019 achievement demonstrates Veterans\u2019 unwavering commitment to contribute to the greater good. \u201cBut it\u2019s not just about the numbers. It\u2019s about the tremendous impact this program has on the lives of Veterans and all Americans,\u201d said VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal, in this video message<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thanks to MVP, Veterans have directly contributed to over 350 peer reviewed publications.<\/a><\/p>\n

Team has traveled over Pennsylvania and surrounding states<\/h2>\n

Because many Veterans visit Pittsburgh VA\u2019s main campuses only when necessary, Chakraborty\u2019s team has traveled all over Pennsylvania and surrounding states to enroll Veterans. \u201cThey\u2019re out there. They\u2019re just too far and too remote. Our population is a little older and tends not to travel as much,\u201d Chakraborty said.<\/p>\n

MVP staff visited Wheeling, West Virginia, as well Butler and Erie during fiscal year 2023. And there are still more areas to visit with Veterans who want to enroll. Some 200 Veterans in the Johnstown area and 100 near Clarksburg and Morgantown, West Virginia, have expressed an interest in joining. Efforts are underway to visit those sites, too.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next?<\/h2>\n

VA and Pittsburgh VA will continue enrolling Veterans in MVP with a new focus on increasing enrollment among underrepresented communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur next goal is to ensure that MVP offers medical insights for every Veteran from every background, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, geography or health condition,\u201d said Elnahal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe plan to visit more places,\u201d Chakraborty added. \u201cClarksburg, Belmont, Johnstown for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to join? <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Any Veteran\u2014enrolled in VA health care or not\u2014can join MVP. To learn how, call 866-441-6075 or visit MVP<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pittsburgh VA has enrolled an impressive number of participants in MVP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":318,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-news"],"yoast_head":"\n19,000 Veterans join MVP at Pittsburgh VA - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pittsburgh VA has enrolled an impressive number of participants in MVP.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=8358\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"19,000 Veterans join MVP at Pittsburgh VA - Its Veterans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pittsburgh VA has enrolled an impressive number of participants in MVP.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=8358\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Its Veterans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-15T19:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=8358#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=8358\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4bf835f8c5375ef33978f3169f311668\"},\"headline\":\"19,000 Veterans join MVP at Pittsburgh VA\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-15T19:30:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=8358\"},\"wordCount\":475,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=8358#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/vet-456-301.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"News & VA Updates\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=8358\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=8358\",\"name\":\"19,000 Veterans join MVP at Pittsburgh VA - 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