About the Initiative
Taking a united approach toward recovery
What is RECOVER?
From August 2022 to February 2025, RECOVER was also part of the whole-of-government response to the longer-term impacts of COVID-19 including Long COVID and associated health conditions. The Office of Long COVID Research and Practice (OLC) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) led this response. RECOVER collaborated with the OLC and 13 other federal agencies and departments to produce answers to urgent questions about the physical, psychological, emotional, social, and economic impacts of Long COVID.
Scientific Aims
01
Understand the range of recovery from Long COVID and changes it can cause in our bodies over time.
02
Define risk factors, understand the number of people getting Long COVID, and determine whether there are specific, different Long COVID types.
03
Study how Long COVID changes over time and how those changes may relate to other illnesses.
04
Identify possible treatments for Long COVID symptoms.
How Does it Work?
Research Components & Information Exchange
RECOVER is unprecedented in its size and scope. It includes the world’s most comprehensive and diverse cohort of Long COVID patients. RECOVER researchers are studying a collection of more than 60 million EHRs for insights about those who received care during the pandemic. RECOVER also enrolled 20,000 adults, pregnant women, and children in cohort studies and leveraged existing community-based studies to include 60,000 more people.
Learning from People
- Cohort and Community-based Studies
- Autopsy/Tissue Pathology Studies
Clinical Science
- Pathobiology
Real World Data
- Electronic Health Records (EHR)
- Digital Health Program
Studying Treatments
- Clinical Trials
All Data Shared
Data is shared between the different types of RECOVER research to inform clinical trials.
RECOVER is combining data from 4 different types of studies to understand what’s happening in the body when people have Long COVID. These data include insights from studies of people and of real-world health data, the results of more than 40 pathobiology studies examining more than 50 types of tissues, and the results of autopsies and tissue pathology studies.
RECOVER is also using the findings from each of these study types and from patient experiences to inform the development of integrated platform clinical trials. The clinical trials will identify possible treatments to help with Long COVID symptoms.
Progress to Date
Created one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive cohorts of Long COVID study participants.
New discoveries about Long COVID symptoms, who has Long COVID, why some people are more at risk of getting Long COVID, and how Long COVID can affect people differently.
Launched Ancillary Studies to answer more questions about Long COVID using data and biospecimens.
Gained insights from cohort studies, which met enrollment goals for adults, to inform clinical trials.
Launched clinical trials to develop interventions and evaluate treatments for symptoms of Long COVID.
Research findings in plain language. View easy-to-read summaries of RECOVER research publications
