Issue: ORN-2026-37

Faculty, Postdocs and Students are Invited Attend: Register Now

Center for Translational Research (CTR) 2026 Workshop on 

Personalized, Predictive and Preventive Healthcare Innovations (P3HI) 

HealthTech, Digital Health and AI Trends 

For Full Program Announcement with Speakers’ Biographical Sketches: Click Here

Sponsored by 

NSF ART (Accelerating Research Translation) Program at NJIT

National Academy of Inventors (NAI) – NJIT Chapter 

Co-organizers and Co-Chairs

Atam P. Dhawan, Ph.D., Chief Strategic Innovation Officer, Senior Vice Provost for Research, NJIT; Executive Director – Center for Translational Research

Arunan Skandarajah, Ph.D., Founder and Principal, Nalam Ventures, Former Small Business Manager and Translational R&D and Commercialization Lead, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)

Date and Venue: November 12, 2026, 8.00 AM – 4.45 PM; Atrium, Campus Center

Registration Requested: Please Click Here to Register

Please register now as we expect a large number of attendees and seats are limited. 

Brief Description: The Center for Translational Research promotes and facilitates excellence in collaborative research, innovation partnerships, entrepreneurial pathways, education, training, and infrastructure development to translate technology into applications with a high societal and economic impact. To execute on the CTR mission to enhance the research, innovation, and technology entrepreneurship ecosystem at NJIT, we have initiated a series of workshops on pathways to translational research and innovation partnerships, with panel discussions and breakout sessions giving faculty, postdocs, and students an opportunity to interact with experts on early and advanced translational research, tech transfer, licensing, and funding strategies for entrepreneurial activities. This CTR P3HI workshop focuses on translational research and innovative technology solutions to unmet needs in personalized, predictive, and preventive healthcare, improving global point-of-care healthcare, and driving future economic growth. 

Why You Should Attend: Recent technological and pharmaceutical advances in healthcare have yielded tremendous improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of deadly maladies, from cardiac and brain disorders to cancers to infectious diseases. Yet a critical problem remains: the lack of “HealthTech” innovations available to all people for sustainable point-of-care, personalized monitoring towards preventive, predictive, and precision healthcare, understanding the onset and progression of pathological conditions, effective treatment and therapeutic intervention, and, more importantly, changing behavior to stay healthy in the long-term. Global healthcare, particularly in under-resourced communities in both impoverished and affluent nations, suffers from limited access to the life-changing remedies many of us take for granted. These disparities are unsustainable in a functioning global society. 

In addition, the CTR 2026 P3HI Workshop will feature a Translational Research and Innovation Showcase with the participation of HealthTech researchers and technology leaders from healthcare stakeholder sectors, including academia, medical and clinical centers, industry, federal agencies, foundations, and communities. Personalized medicine is here, and interacting with these innovators will put a fine point on the challenges and opportunities.

You will have the opportunity to meet and interact with researchers, clinicians, investors and industry leaders to explore:

• Translational research funding opportunities from NIH, NSF, DHA, BARDA and other public-private funding agencies
• Investment funding opportunities from venture groups including Portal Innovations, BARDA, Capital Ventures, Venture Studio and NJ Innovation Hub-The Helix
• Opportunities to interact with clinicians and healthcare executives on unmet clinical needs and challenges in P3HI
• Opportunities to interact with industry leaders and executives and academic researchers on developing collaborations and partnerships in P3HI

Breakfast and Lunch will be provided. Breakfast and registration will start at 8.00 AM. The workshop will start at 8.30 AM. 

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ARPA-H launches SPECTRA to transform autism diagnosis and precision care

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), today launched the new Systems for Phenotypic Evaluation, Clinical Trajectories, Response, and Agency (SPECTRA) program, a major research effort to transform how autism is understood, diagnosed, and supported across the lifespan. SPECTRA will bring together biological, clinical, behavioral, and real-world data with advanced computational tools to enable earlier and more accurate diagnosis, identify factors that shape individual health and developmental trajectories, and develop more precise approaches to care tailored to each person’s needs.

ARPA-H is seeking bold, cross-disciplinary solutions across four focus areas:

• Analysis (tools to characterize the genetic, environmental, family, metabolic, immune, and developmental factors associated with distinct developmental, health, communication, and functional trajectories);
• Modeling (federated, privacy-preserving artificial intelligence (AI) platforms that map these trajectories and identify modifiable outcome drivers and actionable targets);
• Precision Intervention (individualized selection and rigorous testing of interventions to improve outcomes across the lifespan); and
• Enabling Technologies (accessible tools for communication, quality of life, and embedded assessment that measure real-world function as a byproduct of ordinary use).

Learn more about SPECTRA on its program page, including information about the solicitation.

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New Jersey Health Foundation Grants Program

We are pleased to announce a new award cycle for our New Jersey Health Foundation Grants Program.   New Jersey Health Foundation has awarded over $80 million through this program since its inception.

Faculty and personnel from your organization will be eligible to apply for a grant beginning September 14, 2026.   For this cycle, applications will be accepted from September 14, 2026 through November 16, 2026.  The anticipated grant start date is March 1, 2027. More detailed information, including the Policies & Procedures and FAQ’s for each program can also be found on our website.

Here is a snapshot of the procedure:

1. After adhering to all your applicable school protocols for submitting a grant request, an applicant submits his/her proposal through the application portal.  The link to the portal will be available on the  New Jersey Health Foundation website.
2. Following the submission deadline, applications are reviewed by the New Jersey Health Foundation review committee, composed of members of the New Jersey Health Foundation Board of Directors plus members of the medical, pharmaceutical, and business communities. 
3. After the review process, all applicants will be notified by e-mail as to the status of their applications and next steps. New Jersey Health Foundation does not release final scores or comments.
4. Final narrative and financial reports for awarded grants will be due by April 28, 2028.

Please contact at e-mail researchgrant@njhf.org with any questions.