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DEPARTMENT OF WAR - CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS
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  5. 2026 Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program

Joint Warfighter Medical

NEWS RELEASE

Released: March 16, 2026

Defense Health Agency Research and Development
Medical Research and Development Command
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2026

The FY26 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding for the Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program (JWMRP) to augment and accelerate progress toward critical Department of War (DOW) medical capability gaps and requirements through the continuation of research and development initiatives that were previously supported by DOW core and/or DOW congressionally directed funding and that are close to achieving their objectives and yielding a benefit to military medicine. As part of the Defense Health Agency Research & Development - Medical Research and Development Command (DHA R&D-MRDC), the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) is the program office managing this FY26 funding opportunity.

The JWMRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY26 funding opportunity. Investigators should not construe this pre-announcement as an obligation or promise by the government. The CDMRP will post FY26 JWMRP 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 JWMRP must address one or more of the following focus areas:

  • Non-vaccine approaches to prevent endemic diarrheal disease and broad-spectrum antivirals to prevent and/or treat emerging or endemic infectious diseases, excluding malaria
  • Solutions to mitigate hemorrhage and/or support trauma resuscitation, including but not limited to blood, biologics, and therapeutics
  • Solutions to prevent and/or treat injuries due to temperature extremes (e.g., heat exhaustion, heat stroke, hypothermia, and frostbite)
  • Solutions to support forward treatment of musculoskeletal injuries (MSKI) and reduce impact of MSKI on operational effectiveness
  • Medical countermeasures to radiation exposure, including pre-exposure prophylaxis, biodosimetry inclusive of rapid screening and diagnostic tools, and post-exposure treatments, excluding cytokines

Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Military Medical Research and Development Award (MMRDA) Extramural and intramural applicants
Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent)
  • Pre-application is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Applicants must have already received DOW core or DOW congressionally directed prior-year funding for the same research concept being proposed for logical continuation under this funding opportunity.
  • Funds shall not be used for new projects or for basic research.
  • Proposed projects must be a continuation of projects currently at Technology Readiness Level 5 or above.
  • The MMRDA is intended to support a wide range of research projects, spanning late-stage preclinical studies, late-stage technology development efforts, technology demonstration, and translational research.
  • The MMRDA – Clinical Research/Trial Option is intended to specifically support clinical research/observational studies, all phases of clinical trials/interventional studies, and correlative studies in support of the development of promising pharmaceutical or biologic candidates, medical devices, and technologies.
  • Must address at least one of the FY26 JWMRP Focus Areas.
 MMRDA
  • Maximum funding of $1.25M for total costs (direct plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
MMRDA - Clinical Research/Trial Option
  • Maximum funding of $3M for total costs (direct plus indirect 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 JWMRP 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 16, 2026