NEWS RELEASE

Released: July 24, 2019

Defense Health Program
Department of Defense Combat Readiness-Medical Research Program
Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19)

The FY19 Defense Appropriation provides $15 million (M) to the Department of Defense Combat Readiness – Medical Research Program (CRRP) to support military-relevant advanced technology and therapeutic research related to forward-deployable solutions that can promptly address life-threatening injuries, medical threats, and treatments for Service members in current and future battlefield settings. As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency J9, Research and Development Directorate manages the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. The managing agent for the anticipated Broad Agency Announcement/Funding Opportunity is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

The Congressional language for the CRRP encompasses research that would enable the Warfighter to better respond to serious injury, as well as solutions to mitigate the long-term effects of battlefield trauma. The CRRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop applications. FY19 CRRP Broad Agency Announcement and General Submission Instructions for the following award mechanism are anticipated to be posted on the Grants.gov website in August 2019. Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Broad Agency Announcement is released. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the Government.

FY19 CRRP will solicit research applications addressing at least one of the Focus Areas described below. The Focus Areas broadly describe current needs to ensure readiness for delivering front-line care in combat situations, and for delivering medical damage control capability, assets, and life-saving interventions to address the emerging needs of the Warfighter and Service medics during prolonged and en route care in austere and combat environments, including the acute and early management of combat-related trauma at the point of injury.

Applications submitted to the FY19 CRRP must address at least one of the following four Focus Areas:

• Scalable solutions for wound care that can address prevention of bleeding, infection, and acute pain; delivery of therapeutics (including non-opioid solutions for pain); and promotion of healing
• Decision-support solutions, such as algorithms, artificial intelligence, deep learning, and/or telemedicine, for triage and management of severely injured Warfighters, to include management and monitoring of:
  • Hemorrhage and resuscitation (i.e., airway management, control of bleeding, sedation, etc.)
  • Acute pain
  • Multi-casualty events when delayed evacuation exceeds available capability and/or capacity, in order to extend provider capabilities
• Solutions that address hemorrhage control, including:
  • Non-compressible torso hemorrhage
  • Alternatives to optimize logistics and administration of blood products to the Warfighter
• Wearable sensors with broader multiple capabilities to identify and monitor medical management of injuries, to include:
  • Environmental exposures
  • Onset of infection, including sepsis
  • Physiological status (heart rate, blood pressure, respiration), stress monitoring tools
  • Neurological injury
  • Point-of-care imaging

Additional concurrent research approaches that address mitigation of long-term physical and psychological complications that occur from poor management of trauma pain and trauma care, as well as treatments for sepsis and new therapies for multidrug-resistant pathogens, including applications to sepsis, wound care, and injuries incurred outside the battlefield are encouraged, but not required.