GAITHERSBURG, Md., March 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is partnering with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to further the success of The Million Veteran Program (MVP), a national, voluntary research program that is building the world's largest medical database to better understand how genes affect health and illness, and ultimately improve healthcare for veterans.

Through a new Cooperative Research & Development Agreement (CRADA) with the VA's Office of Research and Development, Lockheed Martin is expanding the data security role it has held since the program's inception in 2011.

"We can now leverage Lockheed Martin's advanced genomics practice to help the VA shape the future of the Million Veteran Program," said Horace Blackman, vice president of the health and life sciences business at Lockheed Martin's Information Systems & Global Solutions. "By incorporating information security, data analytics and our integration capabilities, we will help VA provide easy access and sharing of genomics information among MVP clinical research stakeholders to truly drive toward precision medicine for more effective care."

Under this agreement, Lockheed Martin and the VA are partnering to forward the strategy to operationalize secure genomic data storage, identify select cohort analysis toolkits and provide researchers across the VA, academia and other federal organizations with secure access to genomic and clinical data. Lockheed Martin is investing its resources and expertise to facilitate the integration and interoperability of data from a variety of systems. 

MVP aligns with the White House's Precision Medicine Initiative, an innovative approach that takes into account individual differences in people's genes, environments and lifestyles to give medical professionals the needed resources to target specific treatments of illnesses and further develop scientific and medical research, all to keep people healthier. Currently more than 450,000 veterans are enrolled in MVP.

For additional information about Lockheed Martin's precision medicine initiatives, visit: www.lockheedmartin.com/healthcare.

About Lockheed Martin
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that - with the addition of Sikorsky - employs approximately 126,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

About the VA Million Veteran Program
Launched in 2011, the MVP is a landmark research effort aimed at better understanding how genes affect health. Up to a million Veterans are expected to enroll in the VA study over the next 5-6 years. Data and genetic samples collected through the study are stored securely and made available for studies by authorized researchers, with stringent safeguards in place to protect Veterans' private health information. MVP is now enrolling at over 50 VA medical centers nationwide. The VA's central bio-repository is equipped with a state-of-the-art robotic system for DNA extraction and storage and is currently being expanded to support up to 4 million samples. With more than 450,000 enrollees to date, MVP already far exceeds the enrollment numbers of any single VA study or research program in the past. MVP provides researchers with a rich resource of genetic, health, lifestyle and military-exposure data collected from questionnaires, medical records and genetic analyses. By combining this information into a single database, MVP promises to advance knowledge about the complex links between genes and health.

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SOURCE Lockheed Martin Corporation