Overview

The Disability Health Research Program (DHRP) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announces the 2026 NIH Prize for Excellence in Disability Health Research. This prize competition recognizes promising and established investigators for their outstanding contributions to the field of disability health research. The total prize purse from NIH for this program is $300,000. The DHRP is a program of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) within the NIH Office of the Director (OD).

Subject of the Challenge

In March 2026, NIH released the NIH Strategic Plan for Disability Health Research FY26-FY30. This plan provides a comprehensive roadmap to advance innovative, responsible research that promotes the health and well-being of Americans with disabilities. Accomplishing this mission requires fostering a highly skilled, multidisciplinary disability health research workforce. This awards program recognizes investigators who demonstrate both contemporary achievement in and a commitment to disability health research.

Investigators should have innovative and significant research accomplishments in disability health research; evidence of highly collaborative research projects, especially those that bridge disciplines to offer new approaches and ways of thinking in disability health research; and evidence of engagement of disabled people throughout the entire research process, from study conceptualization and design to data collection and analysis to communication and dissemination of findings.

Awards will be given to one early stage investigator and one midcareer investigator who are poised to become future leaders in the field. An additional award will be given to a senior investigator leading the field of disability health research, marked by the exceptional impact of their contributions to the health and well-being of people with disabilities.

Partners

National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities

Statutory Authority to Conduct the Challenge

DPCPSI is conducting this prize competition under the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science (COMPETES) Reauthorization Act of 2010, as amended [15 U.S.C. § 3719]. The mission of DPCPSI, as established by the NIH Reform Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-482), is to advance biomedical and behavioral science through crosscutting, innovative strategies that foster collaboration and synergies across NIH. By recognizing and incentivizing excellence in disability health research, this prize directly supports DPCPSI’s commitment to developing the next generation of biomedical and behavioral researchers.

Timeline

Prize Competition Launch: September 28, 2026

Submission Start/End: September 28, 2026 – January 15, 2027

Judging Start/End: January 20, 2027 – February 26, 2027

Winner Announced: March 25, 2027

Prizes

Total Cash Prizes: $300,000

Prize winners will be publicized by DHRP and invited to give a lecture hosted by the NIH in 2027. This event will be webcast live and the presentations will be archived for future viewing.

Prize winners may also be invited to contribute to future events hosted by DHRP.

Amount of the Prize

Up to three monetary prizes of $100,000 each will be awarded across the following categories:

• Early Stage Investigator
• Midcareer Investigator
• Senior Investigator

Eligible Institutions will accept the cash prize on behalf of the winning Investigator (see “Rules”). To reiterate, each prize will be awarded directly to an Institution in recognition of the Investigator’s accomplishments. NIH encourages Institutions to use the cash prize to support and/or expand research opportunities for the winning Investigators.

Award Approving Official

The Award Approving Official will be the Director, DPCPSI, or as otherwise delegated, within the NIH Office of the Director.

Payment of the Prize

Prizes awarded under this Challenge will be paid by electronic funds transfer and may be subject to federal income taxes. HHS/NIH will comply with the Internal Revenue Service withholding and reporting requirements, where applicable.

Institutions participating in this prize competition are required to request and obtain a free Unique Entity ID (UEI), if they have not already done so, via SAM.gov as this is necessary for prize payment. Additional information can be found at sam.gov.

NIH reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to (a) cancel, suspend, or modify the prize competition, or any part of it, for any reason, and/or (b) not award any prizes if no submissions are deemed worthy.

Rules

The Eligibility and Participation Rules are outlined separately for both the Investigators, which this prize competition seeks to recognize, and the Institutions that currently employ the Investigators and will accept the cash prize on behalf of Investigators selected as winners. To be awarded a cash prize, both Investigators and Institutions must meet the Rules stipulated below. Cash prizes will be awarded directly to the eligible Institutions that currently employ the Investigators selected as winners of this prize, and not to the Investigators themselves. 

Eligibility Rules

For Investigators

To be eligible to compete in and be selected as a winner a prize under this prize competition, an Investigator—

• Shall have registered to participate in the prize competition under the rules promulgated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as published in this announcement;
• Shall have complied with all the requirements set forth in this announcement;
• Shall not be a federal employee acting within the scope of their employment;
• Shall not be an employee of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, or any other component of HHS) acting in their personal capacity;
• Who is employed by a federal agency or entity other than HHS (or any component of HHS), should consult with an agency ethics official to determine whether the federal ethics rules will limit or prohibit the acceptance of a prize under this competition;
• Shall not be a judge of the prize competition, or any other party involved with the design, production, execution, or distribution of the prize competition or the immediate family of such a party (i.e., spouse, parent, step-parent, child, or step-child).
• Shall be 18 years of age or older at the time of submission.

To be eligible for the Early Stage Investigator prize, an Investigator must:

• Meet the NIH’s definitions of an early stage investigator at the time of the submission deadline, see Grants.nih.gov . Namely, the Investigator must be an individual who has completed their terminal research degree or end of post-graduate clinical training, whichever date is later, within the past 10 years and who has not previously competed successfully as PD/PI for a substantial NIH independent research award. A list of NIH grants that a PD/PI can hold and still be considered an ESI can be found at Grants.nih.gov. Early stage investigators should confirm their ESI status is correctly marked in their eRA Commons profile. If the status designation is incorrect, please contact the NIH eRA Service Desk to correct this status.

To be eligible for the Midcareer Investigator prize, an Investigator must:

• Be at the Associate Professor level or equivalent in an academic setting or equivalent non-academic setting, and
• Have an established record of independent, peer-reviewed research and record of publications.

To be eligible for the Senior Investigator prize, an Investigator must:

• Be at the Full Professor level or equivalent in an academic setting or equivalent non-academic setting, and
• Have an established record of independent, peer-reviewed research and record of publications.

For Institutions

To be eligible to receive a cash prize under this prize competition, an institution —

• Shall currently employ the Investigator;
• Shall have given approval to the Investigator to participate in the prize competition under the rules promulgated by NIH as published in this announcement;
• Shall have complied with all the requirements set forth in this announcement;
• Shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States; and
• Shall not be a federal entity.

Participation Rules

For Both Investigators and Institutions, described collectively as the “Participant(s)” below:

• Participants may not use federal funds from a grant award or cooperative agreement to develop their prize competition submissions or to fund efforts in support of their prize competition submissions.
• Federal contractors may not use federal funds from a contract to develop their prize competition submissions or to fund efforts in support of their prize competition submissions.
• By participating in this prize competition, each Participant agrees to assume any and all risks and waive claims against the federal government and its related entities, except in the case of willful misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential, arising from participation in this prize competition, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or otherwise.
• Based on the subject matter of the prize competition, the type of work that it will possibly require, as well as an analysis of the likelihood of any claims for death, bodily injury, property damage, or loss potentially resulting from prize competition participation, no Participant participating in the prize competition is required to obtain liability insurance, or demonstrate financial responsibility, or agree to indemnify the federal government against third party claims for damages arising from or related to prize competition activities in order to participate in this prize competition.
• A Participant shall not be deemed ineligible because the Participant used federal facilities or consulted with federal employees during the prize competition if the facilities and employees are made available to all Participants participating in the prize competition on an equitable basis.
• By participating in this prize competition, each Participant warrants that they are sole author or owner of, or has the right to use, any copyrightable works that the submission comprises, that the works are wholly original with the Participant (or is an improved version of an existing work that the Participant has sufficient rights to use and improve), and that the submission does not infringe any copyright or any other rights of any third party of which the Participant is aware.
• By participating in this prize competition, each Participant grants to the NIH an irrevocable, paid-up, royalty-free nonexclusive worldwide license to reproduce, publish, post, link to, share, and display publicly the submission on the web or elsewhere, and a nonexclusive, nontransferable, irrevocable, paid-up license to practice, or have practiced for or on its behalf, the solution throughout the world. Each Participant will retain all other intellectual property rights in their submissions, as applicable. To participate in the prize competition, each Participant must warrant that there are no legal obstacles to providing the above-referenced nonexclusive licenses of the Participant’s rights to the federal government. To receive an award, Participants will not be required to transfer their intellectual property rights to NIH, but Participants must grant to the federal government the nonexclusive licenses recited herein.
• Each Participant agrees to follow all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and policies.
• Each Participant participating in this prize competition must comply with all terms and conditions of these rules, and participation in this prize competition constitutes each such Participant’s full and unconditional agreement to abide by these rules. Winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements herein.
• As a condition for winning a cash prize in this prize competition, each Participant that has been selected as a winner must complete and submit all requested winner verification and payment documents to NIH within 10 business days of formal notification. Failure to return all required verification documents by the date specified in the notification may be a basis for disqualification of a cash prize winning submission.

For Investigators

• Each participating Investigator is required to provide, as part of their submission, a letter signed by an authorized institutional official on official letterhead stating that the Institution has reviewed and agrees to the rules, terms, and conditions of the prize competition and agrees to accept the cash prize on behalf of the Investigator if the Investigator is selected as a winner. In the event of winning a cash prize, the prize will be paid directly and in full to the Institution. In the event that a dispute regarding the Institution’s approval of the Investigator’s entry cannot be resolved to NIH’s satisfaction, the affected submission will be deemed ineligible

For Institutions

• The Institution that employs the Investigator must provide a letter signed by an authorized institutional official on official letterhead stating that they have reviewed and agree to the rules, terms, and conditions of the prize competition and agree to accept the cash prize on behalf of the Investigator if the Investigator is selected as a winner. In the event of winning a cash prize, the prize will be paid directly and in full to the Institution.

Judging Criteria

Basis Upon Which a Winner Will be Selected

Following the review and judging process detailed below, up to three (3) winners will be selected, one each in the following categories: Early Stage Investigator, Midcareer Investigator, and Senior Investigator. Submissions in each category are reviewed separately and are not in competition with each other.

Submissions will be evaluated on each of the following four (4) criteria:

• Significance and Innovation of Research Contributions (35%). The extent to which the Investigator’s body of work has advanced the science of disability health, including novel conceptual frameworks, methods, measures, or interventions, and the demonstrated or emerging impact of that work on the health and well-being of people with disabilities.
• Crosscutting and Collaborative Research (20%). The extent to which the Investigator’s research bridges disciplines, sectors, or institutions to bring new approaches and ways of thinking to disability health research, including leadership or substantive participation in multi-institutional consortia, community–academic partnerships, or interdisciplinary teams.
• Engagement of People with Disabilities in the Research Process (25%). The extent to which the Investigator has engaged disabled people throughout the entire research process, from study conceptualization and design to data collection and analysis to communication and dissemination of findings, and has attended to accessibility, reasonable accommodations, and the range of disability types and support needs in their work.
• Career Trajectory, Leadership, and Contribution to the Field (20%). The extent to which the Investigator demonstrates leadership and is positioned to shape the future of disability health research, including mentorship and training of the next generation, service to the field, and evidence of a sustained or accelerating trajectory.

Investigators are evaluated within their respective award category. For the Early Stage Investigator award, reviewers will weigh promise, the significance of contributions made to date relative to career stage, and evidence of an emerging independent research direction. For the Midcareer Investigator award, reviewers will weigh an established, independent, and productive program of research and evidence of growing influence on the field. For the Senior Investigator Award, reviewers will weigh the exceptional and lasting impact of a sustained body of work and demonstrated leadership in shaping the direction of the field.

Judging will be divided into two (2) stages:

1. Pre-screening and Initial Review
   1. All Submissions will be pre-screened for eligibility with respect to compliance with the rules of the prize competition, including the submission guidelines. Only fully complete Submissions confirmed to meet all eligibility requirements will move forward for review and judging.
   2. Eligible Submissions will be reviewed individually by federal staff with disability health research programmatic expertise based on the judging criteria listed above. Each eligible submission will be reviewed individually by a minimum of two reviewers.
2. Judging and Final Selections
   1. At the next stage, high-scoring submissions (anticipated as the top 10 submissions) will be presented to a judging panel of federal staff with disability health research programmatic expertise.
   2. The judges will submit their selection of winners to the Award Approving Official for a final decision on prize payments. Winners are subject to final approval by the Award Approving Official.

How to Enter

Registration and Submission Process

The official announcement for the 2026 NIH Prize for Excellence in Disability Health Research can be found at here. The prize competition registration and submission portal is available at dpcpsi.nih.gov.

During the registration process, Investigators will need to provide their name, Institutional affiliation, and contact information. All Investigators must certify they have read, understand, and agree to abide by the official eligibility rules, participation rules, and requirements for the prize competition as stated in this announcement.

Submissions from multiple Investigators from a single Institution are allowed.

Submission Requirements

Completed submissions must be received by 5:00 PM ET on January 15, 2027.

Investigators must provide the following as their formal submission:

1. CV and NIH Biosketch including a link (URL) to the nominee’s My Bibliography in PubMed.
   • If you do not have a My Bibliography in PubMed, refer to these simple step-by-step instructions to save your citations in PubMed to a “My Bibliography.”
   • Use the URL that PubMed automatically generates when you change your “My Bibliography” sharing setting to public.
2. Letter of nomination (1,000 words or less) from a mentor or colleague familiar with the Investigator’s research, addressing the Investigator’s innovative contribution to the field of disability health research, crosscutting and collaborative nature of that research, trajectory of career development, and leadership strengths. The strongest letters will demonstrate the lasting significance and impact of the Investigator’s work to date.
3. Two letters of endorsement from other mentors or colleagues. Letters of endorsement may be less encompassing than the letter of nomination but should address similar themes.
4. One key, peer-reviewed article published by the Investigator in the past 36-month period. If in press, please provide the accepted paper and the letter of acceptance from the journal.
5. An Institutional commitment letter signed by the Investigator and an authorized Institutional official on official letterhead that describes the Institution’s support for the Investigator and that states the Investigator and the Institution have reviewed and agree to the rules, terms, and conditions of the prize competition and that the Institution agrees to accept the cash prize on behalf of the Investigator if the Investigator is selected as a winner. 
6. Participation and registration consent form

Investigators must submit all of the above to be considered for a prize.

All submissions must be in English. Investigators must not use the HHS logo, official seal, or the logo of NIH in their submissions and must not claim federal government endorsement.

Contact

For further information, contact:

NIH Disability Health Research Program Team
Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives
Office of the Director
National Institutes of Health
[email protected]