DOD, Orthotics and Prosthetics Outcomes Clinical Research Award

The FY23 OPORP CRA is intended to support clinical research that evaluates orthoses and/or prostheses using patient-centric outcomes relevant to Service Members and military beneficiaries, Veterans, and other individuals with limb loss and/or limb impairment. Research supported by this mechanism is intended to generate clinically useful evidence with potential to optimize patient outcomes and inform clinical or policy decisions. The FY23 OPORP is also interested in multidisciplinary projects that address strategies to mitigate secondary injuries. Studies proposing or evaluating rehabilitation strategies must indicate how the rehabilitation may improve the orthotic or prosthetic device outcome when compared to standard of care.

Applications involving multidisciplinary collaboration among academia, industry, patient advocacy, the military Services, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and/or other federal government agencies are encouraged but not required.

The FY23 OPORP CRA offers funding for two Research Levels (refer to Section II.D.5, Funding Restrictions). Only one Research Level category may be chosen per application, and the choice of application category is at the discretion of the applicant. The following are generalized descriptions of the scope of research appropriate for each Research Level:

• Research Level 1 supports pilot and early-stage research studies that are exploratory and involve limited human exposure (e.g., small sample size), with the potential to make significant advancements toward clinical translation. Preliminary data are encouraged but not required for this Research Level.

• Research Level 2 supports large clinical research projects that involve robust, statistically relevant participant numbers, with the potential to make significant advancement toward clinical translation. Proposed projects may include large-scale studies that, if successful, will generate high-quality outcomes that provide strong, definitive support for evidence-based practice and/or have the potential to drive changes in clinical practice. Pragmatic studies and comparative effectiveness studies are welcome and encouraged. Preliminary data relevant to the proposed clinical study are required for this Research Level.