DOW Combat Readiness – Medical Research Program Translational Research Award

The Defense Health Agency is soliciting applications for the Fiscal Year 2026 Combat Readiness Medical Research Program Translational Research Award (HT942526CRRPTRA). This program supports innovative, hypothesis-driven translational research aimed at accelerating trauma care solutions to maximize casualty survivability and improve patient care near the point of injury. To be eligible, research must be mature, requiring a minimum biomedical technology readiness level (TRL) or knowledge readiness level (KRL) of 4, and must be supported by preliminary data. Awards are granted to eligible organizations rather than individuals, and a single investigator may serve as the Principal Investigator on only one application for this cycle. The funding opportunity provides approximately 4.37 million dollars to fund three awards. A base award is capped at 1.45 million dollars for a period of up to two years, with an optional one-year phase capped at 1 million dollars, bringing the maximum potential award value to 2.45 million dollars per project. The application process is a two-tier system consisting of a pre-application due August 17, 2026, and a full application due November 18, 2026. Selection is based on a pass/fail pre-application screening followed by a peer review for technical merit and a programmatic review for military health relevance and translational potential. Applicants must maintain active registrations in SAM.gov, eBRAP.org, and Grants.gov to be considered.