NEWS RELEASE

Released: March 9, 2022

Department of Defense
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP)
Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program (JWMRP)
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22)

The FY22 Defense Appropriations Act has not been signed into law. Although FY22 funds have not been appropriated for the JWMRP, the program is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY22 funding opportunities. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government.

The FY22 Defense Appropriations Act is anticipated to provide funding for the JWMRP to augment and accelerate high-priority Department of Defense (DOD) and Service medical requirements through the continuation of DOD core and congressionally directed prior year research and development initiatives that are close to achieving their objectives and yielding a benefit to military medicine. The managing agent for the anticipated program announcements/funding opportunities is the CDMRP at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

The JWMRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY22 funding opportunities. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government. The FY22 JWMRP funding opportunity announcements for the following award mechanisms will be posted on the Grants.gov website. Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the announcements are released.

The mission of the JWMRP is to accelerate research and development projects that have the potential to close high-priority DOD medical requirements and capability gaps. Within this context, the JWMRP is interested in supporting research and development efforts that address overarching and Service-specific priorities; therefore, applications are required to address one or more of the following FY22 JWMRP Focus Areas:

• Endemic and Emerging Disease Threats
• Preventative measures for infectious diseases, including combat wound care in austere and prolonged field care environments
• Therapeutic measures for infectious diseases, including combat wound care in austere and prolonged field care environments
• Capabilities to support conducting real-time research during the response to identify and characterize emerging biothreats and develop unique and pan-pathogen response tools in order to improve response and recovery and enhance capabilities to conduct clinical research at the onset of a bio-incident
• Operational Medicine and Readiness
• Research aimed toward injury prevention, rapid return-to-duty capabilities, and rehabilitation solutions to maintain Service Member readiness (musculoskeletal and neurosensory)
• Artificial intelligence/machine learning and biotechnology applications to enhance health and medical surveillance critical to identifying biothreats and bio-incidents, impacts from climate and environmental change, and exposures to chemicals and physical stressors in military operations
• Tools and technologies (e.g., digital phenotyping with wearable technologies) to improve detection, prevention, and treatment for behavioral health conditions
• Mechanism-based criteria and injury prediction models for ballistic and/or blast-induced head injuries from a wide range of loading regimes seen with current and likely future weapons systems, with the goal of informing the development of more effective helmet protection
• Environmental Medicine
• Metrics/measures to determine Service Member environmental susceptibilities and enhance Service Member health and performance in operational extremes (environmental/climatic), particularly Arctic, high altitude, or surface/undersea conditions
• Combat Casualty Care
• Modernized combat casualty care capabilities that can deliver life-saving care at the point of injury, enable prolonged casualty care, provide advanced resuscitative and damage control surgical care, and long-distance en route care consistent with the demands of an all domain battlespace against a near peer competitor:
• Tools that enhance medical decision-making capabilities and reduce cognitive burden on medical providers and Warfighters (e.g., artificial intelligence-based clinical decision support, augmented reality systems, procedural telementoring capabilities)
• Autonomous care and evacuation capabilities that augment the individual medic/Warfighter or system in order to increase the capability and capacity for casualty response
• Novel solutions for non-compressible torso hemorrhage
• Intelligent imaging technologies that provide increased diagnostic capability in the forward operating environment, particularly those that can identify life-threatening hemorrhage or neurologic injuries or facilitate early return to duty for less severe injuries
• Solutions to enhance the provision of combat casualty care (including tactical combat casualty care, en route care, and damage control surgery) in extreme cold weather environments
• Solutions that improve the combat casualty care system’s ability to manage large numbers of casualties including improved triage, medical regulating, and evacuation capabilities
• Validated training platforms for the acquisition and retention of knowledge, skills, and abilities aligned to wartime medical specialties of the operational force while refining, reducing, and replacing use of live tissue