Key Points
- The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Sprint for Women’s Health program will commit $100 million to fund transformative research and development in women’s health.
- Interested researchers can submit applications for funding through April 15.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) recently announced their Sprint for Women’s Health program, marking the first ever White House initiative on women’s health research. First Lady Jill Biden emphasized the program’s goal to “build a healthcare system in which women and their lived experiences are at the center, where no woman or girl has to hear ‘it’s all in your head.’”
The program will dedicate $100 million toward transformative research and development in women’s health.
The agency has announced six topics as part of a new request for solutions (RFS) funding opportunity. The RFS invites project ideas that fit into the following categories:
- Women’s Health at Home
- Prioritizing Ovarian Health Through Mid-Life to Prevent Disease
- ARTEMIS—Advancing Research Through Enhanced Models for Investigating the Influence of Sex Differences on Health Outcomes
- Advancing Women’s Brain Health Via Lymphatic Targeting
- Objective and Quantitative Measurement of Chronic Pain in Women
- Wild Card: Revolutionary Breakthroughs in Women’s Health
More information on each of the categories is available on the ARPA-H site.
“This initiative will help transform the nation’s approach to funding women’s health research, closing current gaps, and delivering more innovative solutions for patients,” said Jessica Foley, PhD, the Foundation’s chief scientific officer. “Focused ultrasound should be among these solutions, and we encourage our community to take advantage of this new funding opportunity.”
ARPA-H expects that awardees will employ innovative strategies to drive revolutionary advancements in women’s health through delivering progress in science, technology, or systems. The amount of funding allocated will be contingent on the quality and quantity of proposals received.
ARPA-H was established in March 2022 and is intended to accelerate better health outcomes for everyone. The agency funds high-potential, high-impact biomedical and health research toward innovative solutions that have the potential to advance areas of medicine that cannot readily be accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity.
Watch a Recording of the Proposer’s Day Presentation
Timeline and How to Apply
Submissions are now being accepted through April 15. The agency is allowing researchers to ask questions until March 27, and the questions can be submitted via a form.
Following the submission deadline, the pitch phase will take place between May and July. Teams will be invited to collaborate and negotiate until August, and the awardees will be announced in September.