2025 US NAM Catalyst Award Competition

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The Catalyst Awards—part of the broader Healthy Longevity Global Competition—reward bold, new, potentially transformative ideas to improve the physical, mental, or social well-being and health of people as they age, in a measurable and equitable way.

The National Academy of Medicine (“NAM”), with support from Johnson & Johnson Innovation, the Bia-Echo Foundation, and the Yun Family Foundation, will issue up to 15 Catalyst Awards in 2025 to U.S.-based innovators. Each Catalyst Award includes a $50,000 cash prize as well as exclusive access to additional funding opportunities, occasions to connect and collaborate with innovators from around the world, amplification of your award-winning idea, and resources to enhance your project and professional development.

The NAM is currently seeking bold, new, and innovative ideas that aim to extend the human healthspan (i.e., the number of years lived in good health), especially approaches that challenge existing paradigms or propose new methodologies or concepts. High-riskideas that could potentially yield high rewards and, in turn, dramatically change the field of healthy longevity are encouraged.

Ideas may focus on any stage of life, as long as they ultimately promote health, functioning, meaning, purpose and/or dignity as people age.

Applications may also originate from any field or combination of fields (e.g., biology, chemistry, medicine, engineering, behavioral and social sciences, technology, data science, and policy). Examples of topic areas include but are not limited to:

  • Behavioral health (e.g., social connectedness, engagement, and well-being)
  • Biology of aging and molecular pathways
  • Built environment and urban planning
  • Disease prevention, including biomarkers and indicators of disease
  • Health care delivery (e.g., technologies simplifying access to care, elder care services)
  • Housing (e.g., smart-enabled homes, intergenerational housing models)
  • Physical health (e.g., mobility and functionality)
  • Policy (e.g., economic, health, and science)
  • Reproductive longevity and equality
  • Technology (e.g., telehealth; artificial intelligence; robotics; medical, assistive, and information technology)

The NAM strongly encourages individuals with diverse backgrounds, ideologies, and perspectives to apply. Ideas or projects that aim to reduce health disparities, promote health equity, combat ageism, or apply human-centered design principles to engage older adults in the work, are also of strong interest to the NAM.

The NAM does not seek to fund existing programs (or slight variations thereof), approaches that are primarily public awareness, educational, or advocacy campaigns, nor products that are already commercially available.

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