DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE - CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS
  1. Home
  2. Research Programs
  3. Alzheimer's
  4. Research Highlights/News
  5. 2025 Alzheimer's Research Program

Alzheimer's

NEWS RELEASE

Released: March 28, 2025

Department of Defense
Defense Health Agency Research and Development -
Medical Research and Development Command
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP)
Alzheimer's Research Program
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25)

The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025 provides $650M in funding for the CDMRP. Congress provided further guidance for CDMRP program-level funding, including funding for the Alzheimer's Research Program (AZRP). The FY25 AZRP intends to support solution-oriented research to address critical needs and improve the quality of life for Service Members, Veterans, their Families, and the public who are living with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD). The CDMRP is part of the Defense Health Agency Research and Development at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) and is the program office managing these anticipated FY25 funding opportunities.

The AZRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY25 funding opportunities. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government. The FY25 AZRP 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.

Applications submitted to the FY25 AZRP must be relevant to one or more of the following priority areas:

  • Reduce Risk and Prevent AD/ADRD
  • Improve Diagnosis and Prognosis
  • Improve Quality of Life for People Living With a Dementia Diagnosis

All FY25 AZRP mechanisms have a Career Initiation or Transition (CIT) Partnership Option to encourage research capacity in critical areas to include women's health, military health and dementia care. The partnership option allows for two investigators with complementary research expertise to work collaboratively on one project. One investigator must meet the definition of Career Initiation or Career Transition and should have only nominal research support in the field. and be either:

(a) Career Initiation: an investigator three or more years from their terminal degree but no more than seven years into an independent position

(b) Career Transition: transitioning from another field to the AD/ADRD/TBI field and has only nominal, if any, publications in the AD-related field.

*The AZRP was previously known as the Peer Reviewed Alzheimer's Research Program (PRARP).


Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Transforming Care Award The PI must be an independent investigator at any career level.
CIT Partnership Option: an eligible PI, as above, and either
  • Career Initiation: an investigator three or more years from their terminal degree but no more than seven years into an independent position
    OR
  • Career Transition: an investigator transitioning from another field to the AD/ADRD/TBI/military health fields and has only nominal, if any, publications in the AD-related field.
  • Supports person-centered research that prioritizes both the individual with AD/ADRD and their care partner(s). The project should clearly demonstrate feasibility and a realistic approach to scaling and implementation.
  • "Care" does not refer to medical care (such as medical interventions administered by a physician) but all modalities and requirements of dementia care.
  • There is no requirement for studies to be performed in a Veteran or military cohort. The AZRP encourages investigators to consider how their research from a civilian cohort might be applicable to such populations, and vice versa.
  • Community collaboration is required for all applications.
  • Animal studies are not allowed.
  • Clinical trials are allowed.
  • The CIT Option is available.
  • Submission of a preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
Single PI:
  • Maximum funding of $1.5M for total costs.
CIT Partnership Option:
  • Maximum funding of $1.8M for total costs.
Transforming Diagnosis Award The PI must be an independent investigator at any career level.
CIT Partnership Option: an eligible PI, as above, and either
  • Career Initiation: an investigator three or more years from their terminal degree but no more than seven years into an independent position
    OR
  • Career Transition: an investigator transitioning from another field to the AD/ADRD/TBI/military health fields and has only nominal, if any, publications in the AD-related field.
  • Supports research to reduce barriers and improve diagnosis and prognosis of dementia.
  • There is no requirement for studies to be performed in a Veteran or military cohort. The AZRP encourages investigators to consider how their research from a civilian cohort might be applicable to such populations, and vice versa.
  • Studies leveraging existing cohorts or data sets are encouraged.
  • Community collaboration is required for all applications.
  • The CIT Partnership Option is available.
  • Animal studies are not allowed.
Submission of a preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years
Single PI:
  • Maximum funding of $1.5M for total costs.
CIT Partnership Option:
  • Maximum funding of $1.7M for total costs.
Transforming Research Award The PI must be an independent investigator at any career level.
CIT Partnership Option: an eligible PI, as above, and either
  • Career Initiation: an investigator three or more years from their terminal degree but no more than seven years into an independent position
    OR
  • Career Transition: an investigator transitioning from another field to the AD/ADRD/TBI/military health fields and has only nominal, if any, publications in the AD-related field.
  • Supports high-impact research that addressed the priority area of "Reduce risk and prevent AD/ADRD."
  • Projects must be responsive to a FY25 AZRP TrRA focus area:
    • Risk factor knowledge
    • Risk reduction solutions
  • Clinical trials are not supported, but studies with prospective human subjects' enrollment may be allowed.
    • Applications proposing clinical studies will require community collaboration.
  • Studies leveraging existing cohorts or data sets are encouraged.
  • Animal studies that are fully justified for relevance to human health are allowed.
    • Community collaboration is not required for projects that focus primarily on animal studies but is encouraged.
  • The CIT Option is available.
  • Submission of a preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years
Single PI:
  • Maximum funding of $1.0M for total costs.
CIT Partnership Option:
  • Maximum funding of $1.0M for total costs.

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline. All applications must conform to the final funding opportunity announcements that will be available for downloading from the Grants.gov website. The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov. A listing of all CDMRP and other USAMRDC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420.

Submission deadlines are not available until the funding opportunity announcements are released. For email notification when announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under "Email Subscriptions" on the eBRAP homepage at https://eBRAP.org. For more information about the AZRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.health.mil).

Point of Contact:
CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-9783
dha.detrick.cdmrp.mbx.public-affairs@health.mil


Last updated Thursday, March 27, 2025