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DEPARTMENT OF WAR - CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS
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Alzheimer's

NEWS RELEASE

Released: March 2, 2026

Defense Health Agency Research and Development
Medical Research and Development Command
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
Alzheimer's Research Program
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2026

The FY26 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding for the AZRP to support innovative, high-impact research with clinical relevance that will 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). As part of the DHA R&D-MRDC, the CDMRP is the program office managing these anticipated FY26 funding opportunities.

The AZRP provides the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY26 funding opportunities. Investigators should not construe this pre-announcement as an obligation or promise by the government. The CDMRP will post FY26 AZRP funding opportunity announcements on the Grants.gov website. Once released, the funding opportunity announcements will include pre-application and application deadlines.

Applications submitted to the FY26 AZRP must address one or more of the following priority areas:

  • Reduce risk and prevent AD and ADRD
  • Improve diagnosis and prognosis
  • Improve quality of life for people living with a dementia diagnosis, including care partners and families

Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Transforming Care Award Single PI Option: Independent investigators at any career level. Individuals in mentored positions (e.g. postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows) are not considered independent investigators.

Career Initiation or Transition Partnership Option (CITPO): If utilizing the CITPO, at least one independent investigator must meet the eligibility requirements at the time of application submission. Individuals in mentored positions (e.g. postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows) are not considered independent investigators.
  • Career Initiation investigators must have at least three years of research experience beyond a terminal degree but no more than seven years within their first independent research position with only nominal, if any, research support or publications in the field.
  • Career Transition investigators must be new to military health, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and/or AD/ADRD fields, with nominal, if any, publications and/or research support for their intended field.
  • Supports well-designed non-incremental clinical research/trials in dementia care that provide significant impact on and solutions for Service Members, Veterans, their Families, and the public who are living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
  • Projects may address knowledge gaps, interventions, strategies, technologies, and/or tools.
  • Research should lead to improved quality of life, reduced caregiver burden and stress, and increased support for those living with dementia diagnoses. Applications are encouraged to prioritize both the individual living with an AD/ADRD diagnosis and their care partner(s).
  • Clinical research and clinical trials are allowed; however, clinical trials solely testing or evaluating pharmacological interventions do not meet the intent of this funding opportunity.
  • The proposed research solution(s) should be representative of the characteristics and priorities of the population(s) intended to benefit from the research.
  • There is no requirement for a specific research population, such as Service Members or Veterans. Instead, AZRP encourages investigators to consider how their research from a civilian cohort might apply to such populations and vice versa.
  • Applications must include community collaboration(s). Applicants should leverage patient and/or caregiver perspectives and/or to inform the proposed research question, study design, and actions to lower the burden of participating in research.
  • Applications cannot support animal studies.
The AZRP TrCA requires submission of a preproposal; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Maximum funding is $1.6M for total costs*
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years
Career Initiation or Transition Partnership Option:
  • Maximum funding is $1.8M for total costs*
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years
Transforming Diagnosis Award Single PI Option: Independent investigators at any career level. Individuals in mentored positions (e.g. postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows) are not considered independent investigators.

Career Initiation or Transition Partnership Option (CITPO): If utilizing the CITPO, at least one independent investigator must meet the eligibility requirements at the time of application submission. Individuals in mentored positions (e.g. postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows) are not considered independent investigators.
  • Career Initiation investigators must have at least three years of research experience beyond a terminal degree but no more than seven years within their first independent research position with only nominal, if any, research support or publications in the field.
  • Career Transition investigators must be new to military health, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and/or AD/ADRD fields, with nominal, if any, publications and/or research support for their intended field.
  • Supports non-incremental, solutions-oriented research that reduces or overcomes important barriers to obtaining a diagnosis, meaningful disease monitoring, and accurate prognosis.
  • Barriers could include, but are not limited to, technologies, cost, patient access to diagnosis/prognosis technology, diagnosis management, applicability, clinical implementation, relationship to clinical outcome measures, biomarker validation, and lack of longitudinal data to inform prediction/prognosis.
  • While prospective human subject recruitment and deidentified human sample/specimen/data research and analysis are allowed, clinical trials and animal research are prohibited.
  • Preliminary data are required.
  • Applications must include community collaboration(s). Applicants should leverage patient and/or caregiver perspectives and/or to inform the proposed research question, study design, and actions to lower the burden of participating in research.
  • The AZRP encourages studies to leverage existing cohorts/datasets. Cohorts consisting of individuals 65 years or younger are also encouraged.
The AZRP TrDA requires submission of a preproposal; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Maximum funding is $1.5M for total costs*
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years
Career Initiation or Transition Partnership Option:
  • Maximum funding is $1.7M for total costs*
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years
Transforming Research Award Single PI Option: Independent investigators at any career level. Individuals in mentored positions (e.g. postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows) are not considered independent investigators.

Career Initiation or Transition Partnership Option (CITPO): If utilizing the CITPO, at least one independent investigator must meet the eligibility requirements at the time of application submission. Individuals in mentored positions (e.g. postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows) are not considered independent investigators.
  • Career Initiation investigators must have at least three years of research experience beyond a terminal degree but no more than seven years within their first independent research position with only nominal, if any, research support or publications in the field.
  • Career Transition investigators must be new to military health, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and/or AD/ADRD fields, with nominal, if any, publications and/or research support for their intended field.
  • Supports non-incremental, robust, well-designed research that drives transformative advancements in reducing risk and preventing the development of Alzheimer’s disease and/or Alzheimer's disease related dementias (AD/ADRD).
  • Applications must respond to one of the following focus areas:
    • Risk factor knowledge: Research that advances understanding, identification, and/or validation of risk and/or protective factors, with research outcomes/products focused on accelerating solutions. Projects may include, but not limited to, research on environmental, epigenetic, genetic, lifestyle, occupational, or other risks not listed here.
    • Risk reduction solutions: Research that describes non-pharmacological methods, technologies, and strategies that contribute to reducing risk and preventing AD/ADRD.
  • While prospective human subject recruitment and deidentified human sample/specimen/data research and analysis are allowed, clinical trials and animal research are prohibited.
  • Projects focused primarily on basic and/or mechanistic research, disease-modifying treatments, and/or pharmacological therapeutic development research do not meet the intent of this mechanism.
  • Submissions proposing prospective human subject enrollment must include community collaboration(s). These submissions should leverage patient and/or caregiver perspectives to inform the proposed research question, study design, and actions to lower the burden of participating in research.
  • The AZRP encourages studies to leverage existing cohorts/datasets. Cohorts consisting of individuals 65 years or younger are also encouraged.
The AZRP TrRA requires submission of a preproposal; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Maximum funding is $1M for total costs*
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
*Total costs include direct and indirect costs.

Before full application submission, the CDMRP requires submission of a pre-application through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal, eBRAP, prior to the pre-application deadline. All applications must conform to the final funding opportunity announcements available for downloading from Grants.gov. To obtain a listing of all CDMRP funding opportunities on the Grants.gov website, perform a basic search using CFDA number 12.420.

To receive email notifications upon release of funding opportunity announcements, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under "Email Subscriptions" on the eBRAP homepage. For more information about the AZRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website.

Point of Contact:
CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-7071
dha.detrick.cdmrp.mbx.public-affairs@health.mil


Last updated Monday, March 2, 2026