The NIA IMPACT Collaboratory is pleased to announce the 2026 Awardees for the Pilot Grants Program and the Demonstration Projects Program.  Awardees of these funding opportunities will be supported by the IMPACT cores and teams to conduct embedded pragmatic clinical trials (ePCTs) of non-pharmacological interventions within health care systems (HCS) to improve care for people living with Alzheimer’s Disease and AD-related dementias and their care partners. Learn more about these funding opportunities and most recent awardees below.

Pilot Grants Program

The Pilot Grants Program funds pilot ePCTs that are designed to demonstrate the feasibility and inform the design of future full-scale ePCTs (Stage IV effectiveness based on the National Institute of Health (NIH) Stage Model) to evaluate non-pharmacological interventions embedded in HCS for people living with dementia (PLWD) and their care partners. The goal of the Pilot Program is to generate evidence on the feasibility of implementing and evaluating care delivery practices in real-world health care settings and assess their readiness for testing in full-scale ePCTs.

2026 Pilot Grant Program Awardees:

• Sarah Holmes, PhD, MSW, University of Maryland School of Nursing
  Pilot Pragmatic Trial of a Meaningful Activity Intervention in Assisted Living
• Anne Walling, MD, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
  A Pragmatic Advance Care Planning Intervention for People Living with Dementia

Demonstration Projects Program

The Demonstration Projects Program funds full scale, Stage IV ePCTs (based on the National Institute of Health (NIH Stage Model) to evaluate the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions embedded in HCS for PLWD and their care partners. The goal of the Demonstration Project is to generate evidence on effective care delivery practices that can be expanded and implemented in other systems.

2026 Demonstration Project Program Awardees:

• Katy Abbott, PhD, Miami University
  Effectiveness of the Individualized Positive Psychosocial Interaction (IPPI) Program to Reduce Distress in Nursing Home Residents with Dementia
• John N. Mafi, MD, MPH, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
  Behaviorally-Designed EHR Alerts to Reduce Antipsychotic Prescribing in Dementia: A Confirmatory Pragmatic Trial

The NIA IMPACT Collaboratory has a strong presence at the upcoming Gerontological Society of America (GSA) 2026 Annual Scientific Meeting. This year’s theme is “Reinforcing Resilience in Aging Science, Research and Education.”

During the conference, IMPACT members and investigators will share work and insights across multiple sessions, symposia, and presentations:

Thursday, November 5, at 10:00 PM: Is More Time at Home Always Better? Measuring Value in Dementia, Disability, and Aging Populations
Location: Chesapeake 7-9
This session will examine how “Days at Home” (DAH) or “home time” serves as a patient-centered outcome for older adults with complex care needs. IMPACT 2026 Faculty Scholar Judith Vick, MD, will participate as a discussant and bring lived experience as a family caregiver for her mother.

Thursday, November 5 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET | AI and Ethics
Location: Maryland Ballroom C
IMPACT member Emily Largent, PhD, JD, RN will contribute to a panel discussion exploring the “Ethical Considerations of Artificial Intelligence for Older Adults.”

Friday, November 6, 2026 1:45–3:00 PM ET | Poster Presentation
Location: Exhibit Hall C-D
An IMPACT-funded project will be showcased in a poster presentation titled “Development and Validation of Claims-Based Algorithms for Mild Cognitive Impairment in Medicare,” featuring IMPACT members Jennifer Lund, PhD, Dae Hyun Kim, MD, MPH, ScD, and Ellen P. McCarthy, PhD, MPH, and 2025 Career Development Award recipient Chan Mi Park, MD, MPH.

Friday November 6, 2026, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM | From Solo to Shared: Dyadic and Triadic Models of Dementia Caregiving
Location: Chesapeake A-C
IMPACT member Joan Monin, PhD, MS will present a paper titled “Triadic Attachment and Depressive Symptoms in Families Coping with Cognitive Impairment.”

Saturday November 7, 2026: 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM | Early Career Guidance
Location: National Harbor 6
Early-career researchers can attend the session titled “Interested in Pragmatic Dementia Care Trials? An Early Career Guide for Getting Started” presented by IMPACT member Rebecca (Becca) Lassell.

Saturday, November 7, at 3:30 PM | Dementia Research in Assisted Living
Location: National Harbor 6
IMPACT member Ann Reddy, MPH, will participate in a symposium highlighting priorities identified through a national, community-engaged workshop series. Care partners, assisted living leaders, and researchers will share perspectives on aligning dementia research with lived experience, existing evidence, and the realities of conducting studies in assisted living settings.

The conference will be held November 4-7 at National Harbor, MD. To register and learn more, click here.

A recent editorial co-authored by NIA IMPACT Collaboratory Design and Statistics Core member Thomas G. Travison, PhD, published in JAMA, examines the delicate balance between real-world flexibility and scientific rigor in pragmatic clinical trials.

The article explores how researchers can generate meaningful, actionable evidence in everyday healthcare settings without sacrificing the methodological standards necessary to guide clinical decision-making.

The authors argue that rather than writing off real-world challenges—such as missing electronic health record data or low treatment adherence—as unavoidable limitations, trialists should treat these patterns as vital data. Analyzing why and how adherence varies in real-world environments provides essential insight into who actually benefits from an intervention and how it functions outside ideal lab conditions.

The authors emphasize that pragmatic trials must deliver reliable, high-quality evidence that patients, clinicians, and health systems can trust when making real-world care decisions.

Access the full editorial here.

In collaboration with the NEXT STEPs Network (U24AG087939) and the Long-Term Care (LTC) Data Cooperative, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) Imbedded Pragmatic Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and AD-Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) Clinical Trials (IMPACT) Collaboratory (U54AG063546) is now accepting applications for the 2026 Real World Data Scholars Program.

The 1-year mentored training program is designed to build practical skills and professional networks for postdoctoral fellows, advanced graduate students, and early-career investigators interested in using real-world data (RWD) to improve care of people living in nursing homes and assisted living communities, including people living with dementia.

Up to three awards, each providing up to $60,000, will be granted to postdoctoral fellows, advanced graduate students, and early-career investigators to gain mentored training and experience using RWD to improve long-term care.

Scholars will be matched with a program mentor to support their training, project development, and engagement in the program. They will complete a research project using data from the LTC Data Cooperative to develop or validate measures applicable to clinical trials within nursing homes and assisted living communities. Scholars are expected to independently complete all analytic and scholarly work.

Additionally, scholars will have opportunities to engage in the activities of the IMPACT Collaboratory and NEXT STEPs Network, including Grand Rounds, training opportunities, and annual meetings that foster interdisciplinary exchange, professional development, and methodological advances.

Read the full RFA here

For more information, join the informational webinar on October 26th (see details below) and visit our Real World Data Scholars Program webpage.  Learn more about previous awardees here.

Informational Webinar

An informational webinar will provide an overview of the program and address applicant questions. Registration is required.
 October 26, 2026 @ 1:00 PM ET

Applications

Due: December 3, 2026 @ 6:00 PM ET

Please email IMPACTcollaboratory@hsl.harvard.edu with questions about this program.

The Real World Data Scholars Program is supported through federal funding from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), under Award Numbers U54AG063546 and U24AG087939. The program is financed 100% with federal funds.

Please help to publicize the IMPACT funding and training opportunities and encourage your investigators and colleagues to apply.

The IMPACT Collaboratory is pleased to announce plans to publish two Requests for Applications (RFA) for the 2027 Embedded Pragmatic Clinical Trials (ePCT) Planning Grants Program in early December 2026. These RFAs will focus on planning grants to improve care for people living with dementia in assisted living communities and emergency departments.

The Planning Grants Program supports activities necessary to collaboratively plan and develop a feasible, fully specified protocol for a Stage IV effectiveness ePCT (based on the National Institute of Health (NIH) Stage Model) in dementia care. Applicants must partner with an organization that provides care to people living with dementia (PLWD) with participation from at least two sites (either within a single organization or across multiple organizations) and include a PLWD-care partner advisory board.

This program emphasizes strong partnerships among investigators, health care system partners, and advisory boards of PLWD, care partners, and other caregivers. By prioritizing collaboration, the goal of this program is to ensure that the planned intervention and implementation align with real-world operational contexts, are feasible, and are ready for future testing in an ePCT. By the end of the award period, awardees are expected to produce a fully specified trial protocol for either a pilot or full-scale ePCT.

Funding Opportunity Description

• Request for Applications: Early December 2026
• Funding: Up to $150,000 direct cost
• Duration: 12 months
• Awards Available: Up to 2 per RFA
• Settings of Care for Funding Cycle: Assisted Living Communities & Emergency Departments

The 2027 ePCT Planning Grant Program will fund up to two 12-month awards for up to $150,000 (total direct costs) for each RFA to support the development of ePCTs that evaluate the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions to improve care in the following priority areas: 

Assisted Living Community

• Engaging Assisted Living Residents with Dementia in Meaningful Activities: Proposed interventions should aim to enhance the engagement of assisted living residents with dementia in meaningful activities, including those based on the individual residents’ interests, abilities, and life histories.
• Staff Understanding of Dementia and Interactions with Assisted Living Residents with Dementia. Proposed interventions should aim to improve the direct care staff’s understanding of dementia, and/or their interactions with assisted living residents with dementia (e.g. communication).

Emergency Department

• Care Transitions from ED to Primary and Community Care: Proposed interventions should aim to improve the transition of patients with dementia from the emergency department back to primary and community care.
• Communication and Shared Decision-Making: Proposed interventions should aim to improve communication and shared decision-making for patients with dementia in the emergency department. Interventions should support informed, person-centered decisions while ensuring that caregivers and healthcare professionals have a shared understanding of the treatment plan.

IMPACT will consider Planning Grants proposing to develop protocols for ePCTs evaluating the effectiveness of organizational-level interventions suitable for evaluation in future pilot or full-scale ePCTs.

Awards are structured to provide sufficient resources to support meaningful engagement with organizational partners, the resident-care partner advisory board, and other engaged partners, including relationship-building and collaborative planning for developing and finalizing the ePCT protocol, intervention and implementation strategy, participant and outcome selection, and plans for data access and transfer. The planning activities should ensure that the ePCT protocol is well aligned with the operational workflows, staffing, and care delivery needs and constraints.

With a well-developed protocol in place, awardees are expected to be strongly positioned to pursue subsequent funding to conduct either a pilot ePCT (e.g., IMPACT Pilot Grant, NIH R21, R34) or a full-scale ePCT (e.g., IMPACT Demonstration Project Grant, R01, or equivalent).

Opportunities for Partner Matching

Investigators who do not yet have an established organizational partner, and organizations without identified scientific collaborators, may request assistance with partner matching as part of the required LOI. The RFAs will detail the partner-matching process for each care setting.

This Notice is provided for planning purposes only and does not constitute a formal solicitation. Details are subject to change upon release of the official RFA. Kindly hold all inquiries until after the RFA is released, when further details and guidance will be provided in the RFA.

Visit IMPACTcollaboratory.org to learn more about our Grants and Training Programs.