DoW Alzheimers Transforming Diagnosis Award

The Alzheimer's Research Program Transforming Diagnosis Award is administered through the Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity under the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs as part of the Alzheimer's Research Program. The program was established to support high-impact Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease related dementias research with an emphasis on military health relevance, traumatic brain injury associated dementias, and broader public health impact. The Transforming Diagnosis Award specifically supports non-incremental and solutions-oriented research projects intended to reduce barriers to diagnosis, disease monitoring, and prognosis for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. The opportunity emphasizes translational relevance, community-informed approaches, and pathways toward practical clinical application. The program encourages applications that address health disparities and improve diagnostic accessibility across diverse populations. The funding opportunity supports research that overcomes barriers related to diagnosis technologies, patient access, clinical implementation, biomarker validation, cost, and longitudinal disease monitoring. Clinical research is permitted, but animal studies and clinical trials are prohibited. Preliminary data are required and applicants must demonstrate sufficient evidence supporting feasibility and endpoints. Applications proposing basic biomarker discovery as the primary goal are not supported, although biomarker validation and inclusivity improvements are allowed. The opportunity encourages leveraging existing datasets and cohorts, particularly populations aged 65 years or younger, while also encouraging investigators to consider transferability between civilian and military populations. Community collaboration is mandatory for projects prospectively enrolling human subjects, and applicants must demonstrate meaningful engagement with patients, caregivers, or lived-experience communities throughout the research process. Approximately $3.2 million is expected to be available to support about two awards. Single principal investigator applications may request up to $1.5 million in total costs over a maximum four-year period of performance. Applications submitted under the Career Initiation or Transition Partnership Option may request a combined total cost budget of up to $1.7 million across collaborating principal investigators. The funding mechanism uses grants and allows indirect costs consistent with negotiated institutional rates. Allowable costs include travel for collaboration and scientific dissemination, participant compensation and reimbursement, community collaboration activities, and data or resource sharing expenses. Unallowable costs include clinical trial expenses, animal research costs, and travel beyond specified annual limits. Eligibility is broad and includes domestic and foreign organizations, nonprofit and for-profit entities, public and private institutions, and intramural Department of War organizations. Independent investigators affiliated with eligible institutions may serve as principal investigators regardless of nationality or citizenship status. The Career Initiation or Transition Partnership Option supports early-stage or transitioning investigators entering military health, traumatic brain injury, or Alzheimer's disease related fields. Applicants in mentored positions such as postdoctoral fellows are not considered independent investigators. Cost sharing is not required. Applications are made to organizations rather than individuals, and investigators may not serve as principal investigator on more than four Transforming Diagnosis Award applications during the funding cycle. The application process consists of a mandatory two-step submission process involving a pre-application and an invited full application. Pre-applications must be submitted through the Electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal and include a two-page preproposal narrative, references, abbreviations list, and combined biographical sketches. Applicants invited to submit a full proposal must provide a detailed project narrative, technical abstract, lay abstract, statement of work, impact statement, post-award progression plan, research sharing plan, recruitment and safety plans for prospective human subjects research, and several supporting attachments. Community collaboration plans and partnership statements are required where applicable. Extramural organizations submit full applications through Grants.gov while intramural Department of War organizations submit through eBRAP. Applicants must maintain active SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eBRAP registrations. Applications are evaluated through a two-tier review process consisting of peer review and programmatic review. Peer review evaluates impact, feasibility, recruitment and retention strategies, ethical considerations, statistical plans, progression planning, research team expertise, and community collaboration integration. Programmatic review considers peer review outcomes, alignment with Alzheimer's Research Program priorities, portfolio balance, and potential impact for end users including military populations. The opportunity strongly emphasizes realistic pathways to clinical applicability and meaningful community engagement. Successful applicants may also be required to participate in progress review meetings and provide annual reporting through Research Performance Progress Reports. The current cycle requires pre-applications by June 22, 2026 and invited full applications by September 24, 2026. Invitations to submit full proposals are anticipated by August 10, 2026. Peer review is expected in December 2026 and programmatic review in February 2027, with awards anticipated no later than September 30, 2027. The program appears to operate on a recurring annual funding cycle based on prior fiscal year offerings and references to earlier Transforming Diagnosis Award cycles. Applicant support is available through the eBRAP Help Desk at help@eBRAP.org and 301-682-5507, as well as the Grants.gov Support Center at support@grants.gov and 800-518-4726.

Provide strong preliminary data and clearly demonstrate how the project overcomes barriers to diagnosis or prognosis. Emphasize community-informed research design and meaningful lived-experience collaboration. Clearly articulate the pathway to clinical applicability and translational impact. Avoid proposing animal studies or clinical trials because they are prohibited.