Project Baseline by Verily

General FAQs

You've got questions about Project Baseline, and we've got answers.

Project Baseline is an initiative to make it easy and engaging for people to contribute to the map of human health and participate in clinical research. Together with researchers, clinicians, engineers, designers, advocates, and volunteers like you, we're collaborating to design the next generation of healthcare tools and services.

Project Baseline was founded by Verily, a subsidiary of Alphabet focused on life sciences and healthcare. We partner with organizations like Duke University School of Medicine, Stanford Medicine, and our sister company Google to make clinical research opportunities more accessible. Learn more about our team. Our Project Baseline efforts began in 2017 with the Project Baseline Health Study.

Clinical research is the scientific process to answer research questions related to health and disease through clinical studies. A clinical study involves human volunteers (also called participants) and is intended to advance medical knowledge and practice. There are two main types of clinical studies: clinical trials (also called interventional studies) and observational studies. A clinical trial involves testing interventions such as medical products, medications, or procedures, whereas an observational study observes participants over a given time period. More information on clinical studies is available here.

Because medicines must be rigorously tested  and participants closely monitored, it usually takes about 10 years for a new treatment to get approved. Finding enough participants -- from all backgrounds -- remains one of the greatest research challenges.

Randomized - In many studies, participants are randomly sorted into different groups. This allows researchers to observe the effects of a new treatment against a control group, which does not receive the treatment.

Double blind - In double blind studies, participants and investigators don't know who is receiving an experimental treatment. This helps reduce bias due to placebo effect (a phenomenon where people experience benefit from belief that they are receiving a treatment, which can't be attributed to the properties of the treatment itself).

Investigational - An investigational treatment has not yet received approval from the FDA.

Intervention - A health 'intervention' refers to any activity undertaken with the goal of improving human health. This includes interventions that aim to prevent disease, cure or reduce the severity of a disease, or restore function.

Clinical research consists of five main phases, each progressively larger as the investigational treatment or intervention moves through approvals.

Preclinical development: initial testing and safety data are gathered before human studies, usually in laboratory animals.

Phase 0: exploratory studies that take place with just a few participants and are designed to demonstrate proof of concept.

Phase I: focused on safety and finding either the optimal dosage of a therapy, or identifying the right patient population.

Phase II: focused on safety and efficacy (how well a therapy or intervention works).

Phase III: compare a new therapy or intervention to existing standard-of-care, in a large population

Phase IV: post-approval by the FDA, researchers continue to study how the drug performs in the real world.

Traditionally, clinical studies have taken place at large medical centers. In order to participate, individuals were required to  travel, sometimes significant distances, to take part.

Today, we're working to make research more participant-centric. We want anyone to be able to join research that fits into their daily life. Many of our opportunities are designed to allow you to join from home. For studies that involve on-site visits, we may have a clinician visit your home, or ask you to make a brief appointment at a local lab in your area.

Clinical studies are closely monitored by regulatory bodies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and research participants have a number of legal protections. Before they can begin, studies must receive approval from an Institutional Review Board of medical experts who review the study to ensure it’s scientifically and ethically sound. Researchers are required by law to explain the benefits and risks of participation in a way that’s simple to understand. This is called informed consent.

As a research participant, you are entitled to informed consent to any research activity you choose to join. You may choose to withdraw that consent at any time.

It's easy to join Project Baseline! Click the "Sign in" join button on the right-hand side of this page and follow the instructions.

If you are over 18 years old and live in the U.S., you are eligible to join Project Baseline. Eligibility requirements for specific clinical studies vary, so please refer to the study details page.

We hope that Project Baseline is not only a successful scientific and medical endeavor, but also a rewarding experience for you in a variety of ways.

By joining us, you will have an opportunity to join clinical research opportunities that match your interests. Such opportunities may also offer you a chance to test new technologies and devices, learn about your own health through return of results, or test treatments for a medical condition.

You will be part of the dedicated coalition working towards our mission. Your involvement matters, and we hope you are as excited as we are to take action and tackle the challenge of preventing disease for future generations!

We've launched in the U.S. to start, and are working to broaden our efforts internationally over time.

You will not receive any free medical treatment or health advice by joining Project Baseline. If you choose to join a clinical study, it is possible that you will receive a treatment or intervention, or insights into your own health through the return of certain test results. Please refer to the study details page.

We will not share any information with your insurance or medical providers without your consent. You and your doctor will continue to make decisions about your care.

As a Project Baseline member, you may have the option to share information related to your health with Project Baseline, including self-reported data, data recorded by mobile devices or other sensors, and electronic health records. You may also have the opportunity to provide other medical information with your additional consent, for example biospecimens or data recorded by medical devices.

The information you provide will be stored in a secure, encrypted database with restricted access. Members of the Project Baseline team who need to contact you will have access to the contact information you choose to share. We may also share your information with other researchers and partners with your consent. Please see our Privacy Policy for full details.

Your data will be used to:

  • Notify you about relevant opportunities and updates
  • Determine your eligibility for a study, and assist with your enrollment and conduct in studies
  • Provide insights about your health
  • Conduct and publish research on health and disease
  • Note: Any personally identifiable information will be removed before publication
  • Build new tools, technologies, products, and partnerships related to health and disease
  • Help improve Project Baseline overall

Each study operates with a unique study protocol. Study details pages will indicate whether your health data or results will be returned. Whenever possible, we do our best to give you access to your results.

We are committed to maintaining high privacy standards and keeping your data safe. Project Baseline follows federal and state regulations governing the collection and use of an individual's data, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Data is stored in advanced systems with best-in-class security and privacy protocols.

ProjectBaseline.com is the best place to find up-to-date information about studies and other opportunities.

For general inquiries about Project Baseline (not related to COVID-19 Testing), you can contact our team at team@projectbaseline.com.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Login FAQs

Have a question about logging in to your account?

If you signed up by using your Google account, use the “Continue with Google” option to quickly log in. 

Logging in with a Gmail email address is a bit different than using Google, which allows you to log in with one click when you have an active Google session. If you used your Gmail address to create an account with a unique Baseline password, log in by entering your email address.

No, authenticating your account does not authorize us to link your data with Google account data. We do not combine this data with an individual's Google account.  To learn more about Google’s privacy practices, please refer to Google’s Privacy Policy.  Please also feel free to revisit Verily’s Project Baseline Privacy Policy.

Find opportunities that are right for you.