ARPA-H: The Next Frontier of Biomedical Research
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) is a new DARPA-style federal funding agency within the NIH – launched in March 2022 to seed transformative, high-impact research. The mission of ARPA-H is to fund research that traditional funding sponsors would otherwise bypass because of its high risk, high cost, long timetable, and/or level of complexity. The goal of ARPA-H is to “catalyze health breakthroughs” by de-risking investments for downstream adoption.
ARPA-H will operate as an R&D agency, reporting directly to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). With a current budget of over $2 billion, ARPA-H has identified four focus areas that are priority for investment:
(1) Health Science Futures
(2) Scalable Solutions
(3) Proactive Health
(4) Resilient Systems
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
ARPA-H is modeled after DARPA in several respects. ARPA-H does not have its own laboratories or research facilities. Its flat organizational structure centers around Program Managers who will design, launch, and run an ever-changing portfolio of programs. To remove any incentive for “empire-building” and to encourage a constant influx of new ideas, Program Managers will be term limited (max. 6 years) and the programs they create will not be synchronous with their tenure of service. In addition, all ARPA-H programs will be milestone-driven – and Program Managers will have the power to stop underperforming projects and pivot into new, more promising directions.
As an R&D funding agency, ARPA-H will operate as a lean organization, capped at 210 employees. APRA-H plans to establish three hub locations – a Stakeholder and Operations Hub, a Customer Experience Hub, and an Investor Catalyst Hub. According to the announcement, “(e)ach hub will incorporate spokes in additional locations across the country to represent the diversity of people, settings, partners, and capabilities that comprise the American health ecosystem. Together, these hubs and spokes will create a nationwide health innovation network.”
The Operations Hub will be located in the National Capital Region to allow ARPA-H to leverage proximity and synergies with the NIH and numerous other federal agencies that are represented on its advisory committee (e.g. CDC, FDA, NFS, DARPA).
OPEN CALL FOR PROGRAM MANAGERS
At full buildout, ARPA-H is anticipated to have 100 Program Managers. As of today, ARPA-H has three Program Managers – and is looking to fill roughly 30 Program Manager positions in 2023. Click here to learn more about the role of Program Managers and how to apply for a position. Applicants are required to submit a potential program concept in response to the Heilmeier Questions.
current FUNDING opportunities
To date, ARPA-H has released two funding opportunities – an Open Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) and a targeted BAA focused on Novel Innovations for Tissue Regeneration in Osteoarthritis – NITRO. More funding opportunities will be released as ARPA-H brings more Program Managers on board.
LEARN MORE ABOUT ARPA-H
Read Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about ARPA-H
Listen to ARPA-H Director’s vision for the agency
KEEP INFORMED
To get the latest news on ARPA-H, including funding opportunities, check out Research Development’s Weekly Funding Opportunities email.
Subscribe to ARPA-H funding opportunities and news
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