The Rochester Epidemiology Project (REP) has served as a cornerstone for population health research for six decades, providing the longitudinal data essential for predicting health outcomes. Today, the REP functions as a resource in helping to study medical conditions, including heart failure, dementia, cancer and bone health.  

Because it maintains decades of history on a stable population, the REP allows investigators to identify long-term trends such as early warnings of rising disease incidence that would be difficult to capture in shorter, isolated studies. 

This year, as the REP celebrates its 60th anniversary, Mayo Clinic is highlighting how this historic medical records linkage system remains a powerful tool that helps scientists study population health over many decades. 

"The REP is a unique collaboration between health care providers, patients and scientists to use medical record information to study health and health outcomes," says Jennifer St. Sauver, Ph.D., co-principal investigator of the Rochester Epidemiology Project. 

"Since 1966, the REP has supported research on virtually every health condition, including studies of what causes different diseases, how patients respond to surgeries and therapies, and how diseases change over time." 

Dr. St. Sauver notes that the REP has been instrumental in understanding the pathogenesis of so many different conditions that it is difficult to name only a few. 

"The REP has supported major research programs to understand bone and joint conditions; Alzheimer's disease and related dementias; lupus; rheumatoid arthritis; kidney stones; heart failure; (and) breast, prostate, blood and pancreatic cancers," says Dr. St. Sauver.  

The next phase: AI-driven research 

By combining 60 years of history with tomorrow's technology, the REP continues to find new ways to help people live longer, healthier lives.  

Today, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to accelerate these discoveries even further.  

"The REP is uniquely positioned to evolve into a next-generation, AI-enabled population health platform," says Cui Tao, Ph.D., the Nancy Peretsman and Robert Scully Chair of Artificial Intelligence and Informatics at Mayo Clinic. 

"Key opportunities include leveraging linked longitudinal data to simulate interventions, accelerate clinical research and support real-world evidence generation." 

Dr. Tao notes that the REP can also help bridge population-level insights with individualized risk prediction and precision intervention strategies. 

"As AI methods continue to mature, the REP provides an exceptional foundation for integrating multimodal data and enabling scalable translational research," says Dr. Tao.  

"With nearly 2.9 million patient records and decades of follow-up data, the REP represents a rare scientific resource with the potential to help shape the future of precision medicine and AI-driven healthcare discovery." 

Dr. Tao shares that Mayo Clinic Epidemiology and REP collaborators will participate in workshops and lightning talks at the upcoming AI Research Summit taking place June 4-5, which will include an evening commemorating the program's 60th anniversary.  

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