DoW Spinal Cord Injury, Clinical Translation Research Award

The Spinal Cord Injury Research Program Clinical Translation Research Award is a federal funding opportunity administered through the Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity under the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. The opportunity is designed to support high-impact clinical research focused on spinal cord injury and specifically emphasizes projects that require additional feasibility, pilot, optimization, or translational work before progressing to larger definitive clinical trials or implementation into practice. The program seeks to accelerate the movement of promising techniques, interventions, diagnostics, rehabilitation strategies, and clinical approaches into real-world clinical use. The funding opportunity supports research that addresses barriers to clinical success and informs evidence-based decision-making for patients, clinicians, care partners, and policymakers. The broader mission of the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program is to improve the health and well-being of military Service Members, Veterans, and civilians living with spinal cord injury through impactful translational research and interdisciplinary collaboration. The funding opportunity supports projects aligned with at least one of four major priority areas: Acute Injury Intervention, Secondary Health Effects, Psychosocial Well-Being, and Rehabilitation and Regeneration. Applicants must also demonstrate how their projects contribute to associated near-term programmatic goals while outlining a pathway toward eventual long-term integration into standard clinical care. Research may include clinical trials, observational studies, and prospective human enrollment activities. However, purely retrospective database studies and animal research are specifically prohibited. The opportunity encourages decentralized clinical trial methods, virtual recruitment and communication tools, and multidisciplinary collaborations involving academia, industry, the Department of War, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other governmental or clinical partners. Community collaboration is a mandatory component, and applicants must identify at least two spinal cord injury community partners who will provide ongoing consultation throughout project planning and implementation. Approximately 6.12 million dollars is expected to be available to support roughly three awards. Applications submitted under the Single Principal Investigator option may request up to 2 million dollars in total costs over a maximum three-year performance period. Applications submitted under the Early-Career Partnership Option may request up to 2.16 million dollars in combined total costs across both Principal Investigators. The partnership mechanism is intended to strengthen research capacity within the spinal cord injury field and requires at least one early-career investigator with between three and seven years of post-terminal degree research experience within a first faculty or equivalent independent research appointment. Separate awards are issued to each partnering organization under this option. Cost sharing is not required. Allowable expenses include data-sharing activities, collaborative research participation costs, participant reimbursement, travel related to collaborations, and limited scientific meeting travel. Animal research expenses and excess conference travel costs are unallowable. Eligibility is broad and includes domestic and foreign organizations, nonprofit and for-profit entities, academic institutions, intramural and extramural organizations, and public or private entities. Investigators of any nationality or citizenship status affiliated with eligible organizations may serve as Principal Investigators. However, a Principal Investigator may only be named on one application under this fiscal year funding mechanism. Applications are submitted through a two-step process that begins with a mandatory pre-application submitted through eBRAP followed by an invited full application submitted either through Grants.gov or eBRAP depending on applicant type. The pre-application includes a two-page narrative describing rationale, study aims, relevance to program objectives, anticipated impact, and military health relevance. Full applications require extensive documentation including a project narrative, supporting documentation, technical and lay abstracts, statement of work, impact statement, clinical translation plan, community collaboration plan, long-term implementation roadmap, and other supporting forms and institutional materials. The evaluation process includes both pre-application screening and a two-tier review system consisting of peer review and programmatic review. Reviewers evaluate translational potential, study feasibility, scientific rigor, patient impact, military relevance, community collaboration quality, long-term implementation planning, personnel qualifications, and research-sharing strategies. Applications are expected to demonstrate strong scientific rationale, feasible recruitment and enrollment plans, meaningful integration of patient and community perspectives, and credible strategies for advancing research outcomes into clinical practice. The program strongly encourages use of spinal cord injury common data elements and expects applicants to address sex as a biological variable where appropriate. Successful projects must clearly explain how they will overcome barriers to clinical translation or improve clinical decision-making within spinal cord injury care. The current funding cycle includes a pre-application deadline of August 3, 2026 and a full application deadline of November 12, 2026. Invitations for full applications are anticipated by September 18, 2026. Peer review is expected in January 2027 followed by programmatic review in March 2027. Awards are expected to be issued no later than September 30, 2027 using fiscal year 2026 appropriated funds. Applicants are encouraged to begin registration processes early because active registrations in SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eBRAP are required before submission. Questions regarding eBRAP submissions and application requirements may be directed to help@eBRAP.org or 301-682-5507, while Grants.gov support is available at support@grants.gov or 800-518-4726. The funding opportunity is anticipated to recur annually as part of the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program portfolio.

Applications should strongly demonstrate translational potential meaningful integration of SCI lived-experience community input feasibility of clinical implementation and alignment with one or more FY26 SCIRP priority areas. Reviewers prioritize projects that clearly address barriers to clinical success and provide realistic pathways toward adoption into standard care.