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Blood donors at Inova’s Centreville center can now receive free health testing through a program designed to strengthen the blood supply while expanding access to potentially valuable medical insights.

Goodlabs, a startup launched in January 2025, is partnering with Inova Health System to offer donors a choice of blood panels. Options include a general health and wellness panel measuring factors such as blood sugar and cholesterol, along with more targeted testing for hormones or nutrients.

The program uses the same needle already inserted for the blood donation, eliminating the need for another blood draw. Tests that can otherwise cost hundreds of dollars are free to participating donors at the Centreville location.

Donors begin by creating an account at Goodlabs.com and selecting a panel. The samples are processed by the same types of laboratories physicians use for annual physicals, according to Goodlabs co-founder and CEO Grant Brewster. Results appear on the company’s platform a few days later.

The platform is intended to help users understand their results beyond whether individual measurements fall within a standard range. Donors can also receive free care-navigation calls. Inova’s primary care and urgent care networks are available when results raise greater concerns, and Goodlabs is developing a telemedicine feature that would let users connect with a doctor in one click.

Brewster said the goal is to reduce barriers to donating while giving people an additional reason to participate, particularly those who are uninsured, underinsured or otherwise unable to afford similar testing.

The idea grew from his experience with genetic hemochromatosis, a rare condition that caused iron to accumulate silently in his organs. Treatment required him to donate blood every Friday, but he still had to undergo additional needle sticks during appointments with specialists monitoring his iron levels.

Brewster questioned why those tests could not be performed using the blood already being collected during his donations. When medical providers and blood centers told him that such testing was outside their usual roles, he left his software engineering job to build a system that could connect the two services. Goodlabs emerged from that effort.

The partnership comes as blood donations have declined despite continued high demand across the country. Brewster said shortages frequently develop during the summer, while winter can bring urgent need for donations. He said roughly 25% of donated blood goes directly to cancer patients and that one in 89 childbirths requires a massive transfusion.

Goodlabs has established similar programs with clinics elsewhere in the United States. Brewster cited the case of a donor in her 20s whose testing detected high LP, an inherited marker associated with elevated heart-disease risk. After learning the result, she changed her exercise and eating habits to reduce her risk of an early heart attack.