DoW Melanoma Research Program Team Science Award

The Melanoma Research Program Team Science Award is offered by the Defense Health Agency through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs to support multidisciplinary research efforts addressing melanoma. The program was initiated by Congress in 2019 and has since received significant appropriations to advance high-impact research. The overarching vision is to prevent melanoma initiation and progression while improving quality of life for affected populations, including Service Members, Veterans, their families, and the broader public. The program emphasizes innovative, collaborative approaches that integrate expertise across disciplines to solve complex challenges in melanoma research and patient care. The primary purpose of this funding opportunity is to support hypothesis-driven, team-based research projects that advance scientific understanding or clinical outcomes related to melanoma. Projects must align with at least one of the program’s strategic focus areas, including prevention and interception, rare melanomas, and survivorship. The funding supports a wide range of research types, from basic and translational science to data science and bioengineering applications, provided that the work demonstrates clear potential to impact patient outcomes. Clinical trials are explicitly excluded, and research must not focus on non-melanoma skin cancers or macrometastatic disease treatments, except in limited contexts. Funding is structured to support collaborative teams consisting of two to three principal investigators who jointly design and execute a single research project. Each principal investigator receives a separate award to their organization, but the total combined budget across all investigators must not exceed 2.1 million dollars for a performance period of up to three years. The program expects to fund approximately nine awards from a total allocation of about 18.9 million dollars. Allowable costs include collaborative travel, research activities, and consumer engagement efforts, while clinical trial costs are prohibited. Cost sharing is not required. Eligibility is broad and includes domestic and international organizations across public, private, nonprofit, and for-profit sectors. Applicants must be independent investigators at or above the assistant professor level or equivalent, and each may participate as a principal investigator on only one application. Teams are encouraged to include multidisciplinary expertise, early-career researchers, and collaborators from military or Veterans Affairs institutions. At least one team member must have experience in melanoma research or patient care, ensuring relevance to the program’s goals. The application process follows a two-step submission model. First, an initiating principal investigator submits a pre-application through the eBRAP system, including narrative responses describing the research hypothesis, team structure, and anticipated impact. Only applicants invited after this stage may submit a full application. Full applications require extensive documentation, including a project narrative, technical and lay abstracts, statement of work, collaboration plan, impact statement, and supporting documentation such as letters of support and data-sharing plans. Separate but coordinated submissions are required for each principal investigator involved in the project. Applications are evaluated through a rigorous two-tier review process consisting of peer review and programmatic review. Evaluation criteria include scientific merit, feasibility, collaboration strength, and potential impact on melanoma research and patient care. Additional considerations include relevance to military health and alignment with program priorities. Successful applicants can expect awards to be issued by September 2027, with research activities conducted over a maximum of three years and subject to reporting and compliance requirements. The timeline for this opportunity includes a pre-application deadline in mid-July, followed by invitation notifications in August and a full application deadline in mid-October. Peer review occurs in December, with programmatic review in March. Applicants must ensure proper registration in required systems such as SAM.gov, eBRAP, and Grants.gov prior to submission. Support is available through designated help desks for both technical and submission-related inquiries.

Strong emphasis on multidisciplinary collaboration and synergy; include robust preliminary data; clearly articulate impact on melanoma outcomes and military health; ensure team roles are well defined