DoD Lupus, Transformative Vision Award

The Lupus Research Program Transformative Vision Award is a federal funding opportunity administered through the Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity and managed by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs under the Defense Health Agency Research and Development office. The Lupus Research Program was initiated by Congress in 2017 to support innovative lupus research with exceptional scientific merit and high potential impact. The program vision is to cure lupus through partnerships among scientists, clinicians, and people affected by lupus, while its mission is to improve understanding, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and quality of life outcomes for individuals living with lupus, including Service Members, Veterans, military families, and the broader public. The program announcement specifically emphasizes near-term improvements in health-related quality of life and encourages applications from both established lupus researchers and investigators new to the field who can bring novel and transformative approaches. This Transformative Vision Award supports interventional research at either the individual level or the health care system level that can produce meaningful quality-of-life improvements for people living with lupus. Proposed projects must address at least one of the identified focus areas, including improving outcomes through innovative health care delivery models or implementing interventions that improve mental health and quality of life for lupus patients. The funding mechanism supports high-risk, high-reward studies with the potential for major near-term impact. The opportunity permits clinical research and clinical trials but explicitly prohibits animal research. Preliminary data are required for all submissions, and applications that fail to include preliminary data will be administratively withdrawn. The funding announcement also strongly encourages multidisciplinary collaboration among academia, industry, Department of Defense entities, Veterans Affairs organizations, and other federal agencies. The total anticipated program funding is approximately $2 million, with the expectation that approximately one award will be funded. The maximum total cost for a single award is $2 million across the entire project period, and the maximum period of performance is four years. If applicants use the Partnering PI Option, the combined total costs for all participating Principal Investigators cannot exceed the overall $2 million cap. Separate awards will be issued to each PI organization under the Partnering PI structure. Indirect costs may be included in accordance with negotiated institutional rates. Allowable direct costs include travel in support of multi-institutional collaborations and attendance for one investigator at one scientific or technical meeting annually to present project findings. Unallowable costs include animal research and excessive conference travel beyond the specified limits. Eligibility is broad and inclusive. Domestic and foreign organizations may apply, including nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, public entities, private entities, intramural Department of War organizations, academic institutions, and federal collaborators. Independent investigators affiliated with eligible organizations may serve as Principal Investigators regardless of nationality, ethnicity, or citizenship status. However, investigators in mentored positions such as postdoctoral fellows or clinical fellows are not eligible to serve as PI. Each investigator may only appear on one application as either a PI or Partnering PI under this specific funding mechanism. Cost sharing is not required. Applications must include at least one lupus consumer advocate as an integral member of the research team. Consumer advocates must either be individuals diagnosed with lupus or caregivers active within lupus advocacy organizations and may not be employees of participating institutions. The application process uses a mandatory two-step submission system. First, applicants must submit a pre-application Letter of Intent through the Electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal. The Letter of Intent is limited to one page and must summarize the proposed research and identify the selected focus area. After pre-application submission, applicants submit the full application package through either Grants.gov for extramural applicants or eBRAP for intramural Department of War applicants. Full applications require numerous components, including a Project Narrative, Supporting Documentation, Technical Abstract, Lay Abstract, Statement of Work, Impact Statement, Personnel Statement, Transition Plan, budgets, biosketches, and supporting forms. Clinical trial proposals must additionally include a Clinical Strategy Statement. Applications proposing the Partnering PI Option require separate but coordinated application packages from each PI. The funding opportunity also requires institutional registrations in SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eBRAP prior to submission. Applications will undergo a two-tier review process consisting of peer review followed by programmatic review. Peer reviewers will evaluate applications based on impact, research strategy, feasibility, clinical strategy where applicable, personnel qualifications, transition planning, and budget appropriateness. Particular emphasis is placed on the projected near-term impact on lupus patient quality of life, the strength of preliminary data, rigor of study design, integration of consumer advocates, and readiness for translation into clinical practice or implementation. Programmatic review then evaluates peer-reviewed applications for alignment with overall Lupus Research Program priorities, portfolio balance, and potential impact. The highest scoring applications are not automatically guaranteed funding because programmatic considerations also influence final selections. Key submission deadlines for this opportunity include a pre-application Letter of Intent deadline of July 29, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time and a full application deadline of August 19, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. The application verification period closes on August 24, 2026. Peer review is anticipated in October 2026, followed by programmatic review in February 2027. Awards are expected to be issued no later than September 30, 2027. The opportunity appears to be part of an annually recurring federal research program cycle under the Lupus Research Program. Technical assistance is available through the eBRAP Help Desk at help@eBRAP.org and 301-682-5507, while Grants.gov technical support is available at support@grants.gov and 800-518-4726.

Emphasize near-term impact on lupus patient quality of life;Provide strong preliminary data supporting feasibility;Clearly address at least one FY26 focus area;Demonstrate rigorous and reproducible study design;Integrate lupus consumer advocates throughout project planning and implementation;Highlight translational readiness and realistic transition planning