825,000 

Veterans enrolled

in MVP

program 

1,200+ 

Veterans Health 

Administration facilities 

gathering data

2.8

petabytes 

MVP-CHAMPION 

storage capacity

22.5 million 

Individual health records 

in the VA Corporate Data 

Warehouse

MVP-CHAMPION: Partnering

to Deliver Better Outcomes

OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY

America is home to 20 million veterans, a population that suffers from a disproportionate 

number of health problems. Caring for our men and women who served is a national 

priority, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is partnering with the 

US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to revolutionize 

the health care of veterans, and by extension all Americans, via advanced data analytics 

and high-performance computing.

The VA–ORNL effort is a natural partnership. The VA is home to the Million Veteran 

Program (MVP), which gathers critical medical information from 1 million veteran volunteers and maintains the world’s largest collection of genotypic data. ORNL is home to 

Summit, the nation’s most powerful computer for open science, and some of the best 

and brightest minds in big data and data analytics. Together, they form MVP-CHAMPION 

(Computational Health Analytics for Medical Precision to Improve Outcomes Now).

The Data

The VA’s Veterans Health Administration is the largest integrated health care system in 

the United States, with more than 1,200 inpatient and outpatient facilities that serve 

nearly 9 million veterans each year. Nearly 600,000 veterans have volunteered their 

genomic and lifestyle data, as well as their medical histories, as part of MVP, and the 

volumes of data are now ripe for analysis. The VA Corporate Data Warehouse, which 

houses the complete health history of more than 22 million veterans, is also available

to MVP-CHAMPION researchers.

A sophisticated analysis of the data holds great potential for improving care and 

expediting service delivery for veterans and the larger population, but the relationships 

and correlations inherent in such data are highly complex. The VA lacks the resources 

needed to properly analyze this unprecedented data. ORNL solves this problem by 

providing powerful computing facilities and data science expertise.

“We are applying advanced computing and 

data analytics to care for America’s veterans.” 

 Jeremy Cohen, Principal Investigator
CONTACT:

Jeremy Cohen

Principal Investigator

MVP-CHAMPION

cohenjd@ornl.gov,

865-576-3445

One Bethel Valley Road, 

Oak Ridge, TN 37830

www.olcf.ornl.gov

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle LLC for the US Department of Energy January 2022

Partnering for Veterans

The first phase of the MVP-CHAMPION partnership is focused 

on the three health problems affecting the greatest number of 

veterans: prostate cancer, cardiovascular disease, and mental health 

issues. This initial research will pave the way for an enhanced understanding of diseases, from detection to treatment, and improve 

outcomes and operations at VA facilities nationwide 

via the analysis of clinical, environmental, and genetic data.

Infrastructure and Analysis

ORNL’s global leadership in computing and big data, as well 

as its demonstrated ability to analyze protected health 

information on a large scale, made it a natural choice for the 

analysis of the VA’s vast data stores. 

To properly analyze such a massive dataset, ORNL researchers are 

developing advanced algorithms and data mining techniques and 

a novel data infrastructure that is consistent, regularly updated, flexible, and easily accessible. These efforts tackle the country’s most 

complex health challenges while advancing the state of the art in 

data analysis and computing—a win–win for VA and DOE and, of 

course, the nation’s veterans.

The project will also enable future endeavors by:

• broadening, simplifying, and accelerating the process of 

medical and scientific discovery;

• preparing researchers to assist the Centers of Medicare and 

Medicaid Services with data analysis and discovery efforts;

• paving the way for protected health information computing on 

upcoming exascale systems such as ORNL’s Frontier; 

ORNL is the only 

facility housing VA data 

outside of the VA itself.

• creating a comprehensive user facility; and

• enabling an enhanced understanding of health 

care operations.