The purpose of Phase I – IMAGINE is to identify the most innovative concepts that have the potential to transform whole-person chronic disease research by creating AI-ready datasets, advancing computational methods, and developing reusable data science infrastructure. Phase I focuses on the quality of the proposed concept, scientific vision, technical innovation, multidisciplinary expertise, and the potential to advance to a functional prototype. Applications will be evaluated by an independent panel of experts with backgrounds in chronic disease research, artificial intelligence, biomedical informatics, data science, statistics, computational biology, population health, cloud computing, and related disciplines. Participants receiving the highest overall scores on their proposals to foster big AI-ready data sets and computation methodologies to address whole-person chronic disease disparities and clearly demonstrate the likelihood of completion will be invited to participate in Phase II.

Phase I Imagine Advancement Criteria

By the end of Phase I, teams should have produced a compelling scientific and technical blueprint that clearly articulates the problem, the innovation, the data sets needed, the computational approach, and the pathway to creating reusable AI-ready data. Rather than a traditional proposal, the deliverable should function as a strategic design package that provides reviewers with confidence that the concept can mature into a transformative research resource through the subsequent prototype and validation phases.

To advance to Phase II, participants should demonstrate:

• An average score higher than 80 to be considered
• A multidisciplinary team with the expertise required to execute the project successfully.
• A compelling scientific vision with high potential for impact.
• An innovative strategy for creating AI-ready whole-person target population representative datasets.
• Novel computational methods and model features that address the dynamic nature of whole person variables to mitigate chronic disease disparities across populations and time to advance data science
• A robust framework for interoperability, AI readiness, and mechanistic discovery.
• A qualified multidisciplinary team with the expertise to execute the proposed work.
• A clear plan for developing reusable tools, workflows, and research infrastructure that can benefit the broader scientific community.
• A feasible practical plan for completion

The purpose of Phase II-BUILD is to advance their IMAGINED concept into a proof of concept demonstrating that they have access to identified data and can aggregate these fit-for-purpose data sets that can be used to address their whole-person chronic disease project. Phase II focuses on the proposed feasibility of the concept to become a functional prototype, scientific vision to address whole person chronic disease disparities, technical innovation to address data and computation/methodological challenges, and the potential to advance to a functional prototype. Applications will be evaluated by an independent panel of experts with backgrounds in chronic disease research, artificial intelligence, biomedical informatics, data science, statistics, computational biology, population health, cloud computing, and related disciplines. Participants receiving the highest overall scores on their prototypes to appropriately utilize AI-ready data sets with population representation and innovative methodological model features to address challenges and whole-person chronic disease disparities mitigation and can clearly demonstrate the likelihood of completion will be invited to participate in Phase III.

Phase II - Build Advancement Criteria

Projects advancing to Phase III should demonstrate:

• An average score higher than 85
• A fully functional prototype that creates AI-ready whole-person datasets.
• Innovative computational methods that improve data integration and mechanistic discovery.
• Interoperable workflows that can be reused across platforms and research settings.
• Practical tools (e.g., dashboards, APIs, notebooks, computational libraries) that benefit the broader scientific community.
• Evidence that the prototype is scalable, reproducible, and capable of supporting rigorous AI model development and testing.
• A clear plan for validating the prototype through benchmarking, external evaluation, and real-world model testing in Phase III.

This Phase II framework ensures the competition moves from vision (Phase I) to working infrastructure (Phase II) and sets the stage for evidence-based validation and scientific impact (Phase III).

The purpose of Phase III – PROVE is to complete the development of the Phase II product by validating its scientific, technical, and operational performance as a robust, AI-ready resource for whole-person chronic disease disparities research. Participants will demonstrate that their completed platform, dataset, computational methodology, or tool performs reliably in real-world research settings, generates trustworthy and representative AI-ready data, and advances understanding of the dynamic biological, behavioral, environmental, healthcare, community, and place-based factors that contribute to chronic disease disparities. Phase III emphasizes rigorous validation, benchmarking, reproducibility, transparency, and broad usability, while demonstrating that the final product can support mechanistic discovery, predictive modeling, intervention evaluation, and decision-making across biomedical, behavioral, healthcare, and public health applications. Applications will be evaluated by an independent panel of experts in chronic disease research, artificial intelligence, biomedical informatics, data science, computational biology, statistics, population health, and cloud computing.

Phase III Prove Success Criteria

To successfully complete the Grand Challenge, participants should demonstrate that their work has:

• At least an average score of 90
• Produced AI-ready, interoperable datasets that enable trustworthy AI research.
• Validated computational methods and AI models that outperform or complement existing approaches.
• Identified mechanistic pathways and actionable intervention opportunities that advance understanding of chronic disease.
• Demonstrated generalizable, transparent, and reproducible AI across diverse populations and settings.
• Delivered reusable dashboards, decision-support tools, APIs, workflows, and software that strengthen the research ecosystem.
• Created sustainable research infrastructure that can be integrated into SCHARE and broadly adopted to accelerate whole-person chronic disease research.

This final phase completes the progression from IMAGINE (Phase I) → BUILD (Phase II) → PROVE (Phase III), ensuring the Grand Challenge rewards not only innovation but also demonstrable scientific impact and enduring infrastructure for AI-enabled whole-person chronic disease disparities research.

Preference will be given to projects that deliver validated, interoperable, scalable, and reusable AI-ready datasets, computational models, workflows, dashboards, APIs, and software that can be integrated into SCHARE and broadly adopted by the scientific community to accelerate whole-person chronic disease disparities research.

If scores are tied, priority will be given to projects demonstrating:

1. Greater potential to reduce chronic disease disparities
2. Stronger integration of whole-person health concepts
3. Broader scalability and public health impact
4. Stronger evidence of trustworthy AI and responsible innovation
5. Use of SCHARE

The official challenge announcement for the SCHARE Data Science Advance Whole-Person Data Integration and Reimagine Data Science Computations and Analytics to Address Chronic Disease Disparity Grand Challenge can be found on https://nimhd.nih.gov/resources/schare/grand-challenges/advance-whole-person-data-integration-and-analytics.

Phase 1 Submission Requirements: Each participant must submit the Challenge Registration Form to define who is participating in the Challenge and provide contact information for the Participant, and then upload the Proposal Submission on the Challenge website.

Registration Process:

All interested Participants must register and complete the form on the official challenge portal by going to https://forms.cloud.microsoft/g/Lp3sWGLj4F (when successfully submitted you will receive a response that states that “your registration was submitted”) and register for prize payment https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration by the registration deadline on 11/23/2026.

For your submission to be eligible for judging, you must:

Be eligible to compete as an Individual or as part of a Team or Entity (see Eligibility Rules). You must be a USA citizen.

For Teams: Each participating Team is required to identify a Team Leader who will register and submit on behalf of the Team members. The Team Leader is responsible for all communications with the Challenge sponsors and, in the event of winning a cash prize, the prize will be paid in full. To be eligible to receive a cash prize, the Team Leader must be a citizen of the United States. In the event that a dispute regarding the identity of the Team Leader who actually submitted the entry cannot be resolved to NIH’s satisfaction, the affected submission will be deemed ineligible.

For Entities: Each participating Entity is required to identify a Point of Contact who will register and submit on behalf of the Entity. The Point of Contact is responsible for all communications with the Challenge sponsors. In the event of winning a cash prize, the prize will be paid directly to the Entity, not to the Point of Contact. To be eligible to receive a cash prize, the Entity must be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States. As stated in the Participation Rules, Participants intending to use Federal grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction (OT) award funds must register for and participate in the Challenge as an Entity on behalf of the awardee institution or organization. In the event that a dispute regarding the identity of the Point of Contact who actually submitted the entry cannot be resolved to NIH’s satisfaction, the affected submission will be deemed ineligible.

The Individual, Team Leader or Point of Contact must register on the Challenge website.

Upon registering, participants will be required to identify whether they are registering as either of the following: as an individual, independent Team (i.e., registering as a group of individuals competing together but not on behalf of an established organization, institution, or corporation) or as an Entity (i.e., registering as a group of individuals competing together on behalf of a legally established organization, institution, or corporation). Participants will need to provide the name, citizenship, affiliation, and contact information of all individuals competing in this Challenge as part of a Team or on behalf of an Entity. All Participants will also be required to acknowledge whether federal funding will be used in the development of the Challenge submission (see Participation Rule 1). All Participants must certify they have read, understand, and agree to abide by the official eligibility rules, participation rules, and requirements for the Challenge as stated in this announcement.

Phase 1 – IMAGINE: Submission Process:

All interested Participants must submit required reports and files described below into the official Box folder provided after eligibility screening by the deadline on January 22, 2027.

• Phase 1 Proposal Submission
  • Submissions to Phase 1 must follow the structure outlined below and adhere to the stated page limits. Do not include any proprietary or confidential information in the Title, Executive Summary, and Plain Language sections as they may be publicly shared if the participant is selected to win a prize across any phase of this Challenge (see Participation Rule 7).
  • Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) should not be used to develop the writing, imagery, or data of a submission.
  • All submissions must be written in English, not AI generated, and cannot be handwritten.
  • Components must not claim federal government endorsement.
  • Submissions must not include the HHS’ logo or official seal or the logo of NIH or any of its components and must not claim federal government endorsement.
  • Each Individual or Team may only propose 1 solution. An Entity may submit multiple entries provided there isn’t substantial overlap in team members, the team leaders are not the same, and each entry has a distinct and separate focus.
  • Submissions to Phase 1 must follow the structure outlined below and adhere to the stated page limits. Do not include any proprietary or confidential information in the Title, Executive Summary, and Plain Language sections as they may be publicly shared if the participant is selected to win a prize across any phase of this Challenge (see Participation Rule 7).
    • ✓ COVER PAGE (1 page)
      • Submission Title
      • Individual/Team/Entity Name
      • Team/Entity location (City, State)
    • ✓ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (1 page): Provide a concise summary of your proposed solution, emphasizing its significance, innovation, human-relevance, and feasibility. Note that the winners’ Executive Summary section will be shared publicly.
    • ✓ PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY (0.5 page): Provide a summary of your submission that can be easily understood by a general audience. Describe your technical proposal in a manner that ensures the main ideas and impacts are clear and accessible to those without specialized knowledge or technical background in the field. This summary will be made public for winners and used for broader dissemination to inform the public about the will be contributions and significance of your work.
    • ✓ A GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT OR SYSTEM ARCHITECTUREDIAGRAM illustrating the proposed whole-person data ecosystem and AI-ready workflow.
    • ✓ INVESTIGATOR OR TEAM OR ENTITY – provide qualification and contribution of each member. Investigators should have expertise to address all aspects of the project. No more than 2 pages per key team members.

    • ✓ PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND DATA (12 pages, including all figures, tables, and data, but excluding references. Below are suggestions for clarity)

      Overview - Describe:

      • The chronic disease challenge being addressed
      • The research questions and intended AI applications
        • The whole-person health framework
        • The representation of populations for applicability
        • The innovative data science or computational approach
        • The anticipated impact on chronic disease research

      AI-Ready Dataset Development Plan - Describe how the proposed dataset(s) will become AI-ready, including features such as:

      • Data sources to be integrated
      • Data harmonization strategy
      • Metadata standards
      • Common data elements
      • Data quality assessment
      • Missing-data strategy
      • Population representation strategy
      • Feature engineering approach
      • Data governance and provenance
      • AI readiness evaluation criteria

      Whole-Person Data Integration Architecture - Submit a conceptual architecture illustrating features, such as: (Include the proposed interoperability strategy and data flow.)

      • Biological data
      • Clinical and EHR data
      • Behavioral data
      • Environmental exposures
      • Community and geospatial data
      • Non-medical drivers of health
      • Other relevant data sources, including use of SCHARE data sets

      Computational Innovation Plan - Describe the innovative computational methods that will be developed or adapted. Examples include: (Clearly explain why the proposed approach advances current methods)

      • Data integration algorithms
      • Foundation models
      • Digital twins
      • Synthetic data generation
      • Causal inference
      • Graph analytics
      • Multimodal learning
      • Longitudinal modeling
      • Temporal modeling
      • Agent-based modeling
      • Bayesian approaches Privacy-preserving computation

      AI Readiness Assessment Framework - Define how dataset readiness will be evaluated. The framework should address aspects, such as:

      • Data completeness
      • Data quality
      • Interoperability
      • Population representation
      • Bias assessment
      • Feature usability
      • Metadata completeness
      • Provenance
      • Reproducibility
      • Fitness for the intended AI application

      Mechanistic Discovery Strategy - Describe how the integrated dataset and computational methods will enable researchers to identify mechanistic pathways, such as:

      • Biological mechanisms
      • Behavioral mechanisms
      • Environmental mechanisms
      • Place-based mechanisms
      • Context related to living mechanisms
      • Healthcare-related mechanisms
      • Community-level mechanisms
      • Interactions among these factors that contribute to chronic disease
      • Timing of interactions among these factors that contribute to chronic disease

      Impact Statement - Describe how the proposed innovation could benefit exposome research, highlight aspects such as:

      • Accelerate chronic disease research
      • Improve whole-person health research
      • Advance AI-enabled discovery
      • Increase interoperability
      • Improve reproducibility
      • Support future intervention development
      • Produce reusable resources for the broader scientific community

      Reusable Research Resource Plan - Describe the tools or resources that will ultimately be developed for the research community. Examples include:

      • AI-ready datasets
      • Data harmonization workflows
      • Data Integration Tools
      • Computational pipelines
      • Interactive dashboards
      • APIs / MCPs
      • Python/R libraries
      • Notebook collections
      • Visualization tools
      • Metadata templates
      • SCHARE-ready resources

Phase 2 Eligibility:

Each participant must submit:

• Upload your responsive proposal and supporting documents in PDF or MP4 format through the designated Box Folder (provided after being deemed eligible during the registration process) by the due date July 9, 2027.
• All submissions must be written in English, not AI generated, and cannot be handwritten.
• Submissions must not include the HHS’ logo or official seal or the logo of NIH or any of its components and must not claim federal government endorsement.
• Each Phase 2 solution must be based on each Individual/Team/Entities’ respective winning Phase 1 - Imagine proposal
• Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) should not be used to develop the writing, imagery, or data of a submission.

For your submission to be eligible for judging, you must:

• Phase I winner.
• U.S. citizen
• Be eligible to compete as an individual or as part of a Team or Entity (see Eligibility Rules).
• For Teams: Each participating Team is required to identify a Team Leader who will register and submit on behalf of the members. The Team Leader is responsible for all communications with the Challenge sponsors and, in the event of winning a cash prize, will be paid the prize in full. To be eligible to receive a cash prize, the Team Leader must be a citizen of the United States. In the event that a dispute regarding the identity of the Team Leader who actually submitted the entry cannot be resolved to NIH’s satisfaction, the affected submission will be deemed ineligible.
• For Entities: Each participating Entity is required to identify a Point of Contact who will register and submit on behalf of the Entity. The Point of Contact is responsible for all communications with the Challenge sponsors. In the event of winning a cash prize, the prize will be paid directly to the Entity, not to the Point of Contact. To be eligible to receive a cash prize, the Entity must be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States. As stated in the Participation Rules, Participants intending to use Federal grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction (OT) award funds must register for and participate in the Challenge as an Entity on behalf of the awardee institution or organization. In the event that a dispute regarding the identity of the Point of Contact who actually submitted the entry cannot be resolved to NIH’s satisfaction, the affected submission will be deemed ineligible.
• The Team Leader or Point of Contact:
  • Complete and submit the Registration Form if applicable https://forms.cloud.microsoft/g/Lp3sWGLj4F. If any member of Phase I team/entity changed, solvers will be required to fill in an Eligibility Review Form and answer multiple questions to determine the eligibility of the Team/Entity submitting, as well as confirmation that the Team/Entity meets and accepts all rules to participate in the challenge. If there are no team/entity changes, there is no need to register again.
  • Each Phase 2 solution must be based on each Team/Entities’ respective Phase 1 submission.
  • All submissions must be written in English and cannot be handwritten.
  • Submissions must not include the HHS’ logo or official seal or the logo of NIH or any of its components and must not claim federal government endorsement.
  • Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) should not be used to develop the writing, imagery, or data of a submission.

Phase 2 Milestone 1 Proposal Submission

• Submissions to Phase 2 Milestone 1 must follow the structure outlined below and adhere to the stated page limits. Do not include any proprietary or confidential information in the Title, Executive Summary, and Plain Language sections as they may be publicly shared if the participant is selected to win a prize across any phase of this Challenge (see Participation Rule 7)
• Requirements:
  • ✓ OVERVIEW – Summary of Project in plain English and Investigators roles (1 page) - Any adaptation or change in status – design or team/entity members
  • ✓ WORKFLOW DEMONSTRATION - Demonstrate the complete computational workflow. (1 page) For example:

    • Raw data

      ↓

    • Integration

      ↓

    • Cleaning

      ↓

    • Harmonization

      ↓

    • Feature engineering

      ↓

    • Metadata generation

      ↓

    • AI-ready dataset

      ↓

    • Visualization

      ↓

    • Export

  • ✓ TECHNICAL PACKAGE (up to 15 pages) Address the following categories:

    Functional Prototype - Develop a working prototype demonstrating:

    • automated data ingestion
    • interoperability across multiple data sources
    • harmonization workflows
    • metadata generation
    • AI-ready dataset creation
    • reusable computational workflows

    AI-Ready Whole-Person Dataset - Datasets should be reusable by other investigators. Produce one or more datasets that demonstrate:

    • interoperability
    • AI readiness
    • metadata completeness
    • provenance
    • data quality
    • population representation
    • scalability
    • reusable feature engineering
    • standardized common data elements
    • documentation, including data dictionary

    Interoperable Computational Workflows - Workflows should be reproducible and portable. Provide documented workflows for:

    • data integration
    • data harmonization
    • feature engineering
    • missing-data handling
    • synthetic data generation (if applicable)
    • quality assessment
    • metadata generation
    • AI-ready dataset preparation

    Computational Innovation and Mechanistic Discovery Capability - These features should address the dynamic synergistic or antagonistic relationship of whole person health.

    • Computational Innovation Demonstration - Demonstrate how these methods improve current approaches. Develop and demonstrate one or more innovative computational methods. Examples include:
      • multimodal AI
      • graph learning
      • causal inference
      • digital twins
      • temporal analytics
      • Bayesian learning
      • longitudinal modeling
      • privacy-preserving computation
      • explainable AI
    • Mechanistic Discovery Prototype - The prototype should illustrate how these methods generate hypotheses or identify potential intervention targets. Demonstrate computational approaches capable of identifying mechanistic pathways associated with chronic disease, including factors such as:
      • biological pathways
      • behavioral pathways
      • environmental pathways
      • non-medical drivers of health pathways
      • contextual social influences
      • healthcare-related pathways
      • community interactions
      • temporal relationships
      • potential intervention targets

    Research Utility, Reusability, and Implementation

    • Reusable Research Resources – Examples include
      • dashboards
      • APIs
      • computational libraries
      • notebook collections
      • software
      • reusable workflows
      • metadata templates
      • reusable workflows
      • MCP services
      • Notebooks
      • Workflow templates
      • Docker containers
      • Cloud workflows
      • metadata templates
      • SCHARE-ready resources
    • Visualization, Dashboards, and User Experience – Examples include
      • usability
      • intuitive design
      • scientific visualization
      • researcher accessibility
      • decision-support capability
    • Scalability, Reproducibility, and Documentation
      • documentation quality plan
      • reproducibility
      • portability
      • scalability
      • technical transparency
      • ease of implementation
  • ✓ DEVELOPMENT PLAN (up to 5 pages, spreadsheet Gantt timeline), Validation Report - Include evidence that the prototype will work. Examples:
    • Data quality metrics
    • Processing time
    • Scalability testing
    • Interoperability testing
    • Reproducibility testing
    • Benchmark comparisons
    • User testing (if applicable)
  • ✓ SOLUTION DEMONSTRATION (up to one 15-minute video)

Phase 3 Submission Requirements:

Each participant must submit:

• Complete and submit the Registration Form https://forms.cloud.microsoft/g/Lp3sWGLj4F within 30 days of notification if applicable. If any member of Phase I team/entity changed, solvers will be required to fill in an Eligibility Review Form, answer multiple questions to determine the eligibility of the Team/Entity submitting, as well as confirmation that the Team/Entity meets and accepts all rules to participate in the challenge. If there are no team/entity changes, there is no need to register again.
• Upload your responsive Proposal and supporting documents in PDF or MP4 format through the designated Box Folder (provided to you after being deemed eligible during the registration process) by the due date November 19, 2027.
• All submissions must be written in English and cannot be handwritten.
• Submissions must not include the HHS’ logo or official seal or the logo of NIH or any of its components and must not claim federal government endorsement.
• Each Phase 3 solution must be based on each Individual/Team/Entities’ respective winning Phase 2 - Build proposal
• Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) should not be used to develop the writing, imagery, or data of a submission.

Since the goal of the Grand Challenge is to build AI infrastructure capacity for whole-person (exposome) chronic disease research, the final submissions should include validated datasets, tested computational tools, reusable software, decision-support resources, and evidence that the infrastructure improves AI-driven research for chronic disease disparities mitigation or knowledge generation.

Submission Requirements:

• ✓ OVERVIEW – Summary of Project in plain English and Investigators roles (1 page) - Any adaptation or change in status – design or team/entity members
• ✓ WORKFLOW DEMONSTRATION (end to end)
• ✓ DASHBOARD OR TOOL DEMONSTRATION

• ✓ AI MODEL PERFORMANCE AND VALIDATION

  Validated AI-Ready Dataset(s) (Required) - Submit one or more finalized datasets that have been: These datasets should be reusable by other investigators.

  • Fully harmonized and integrated
  • AI-ready and fit-for-purpose
  • Tested for completeness and quality
  • Evaluated for population representation
  • Documented with metadata and provenance
  • Accompanied by a data dictionary and common data elements

  Validated AI Models - Submit one or more validated AI or machine learning models demonstrating the use of the infrastructure. Examples include:

  • Risk prediction
  • Disease progression
  • Phenotype identification
  • Early disease detection
  • Treatment response prediction
  • Causal models
  • Survival models

  Include:

  • Model documentation including model cards
  • Training/testing methodology
  • Performance metrics
  • External validation results
  • Explainability outputs

  Benchmark Performance Report

  • Explain how this tool outperforms existing tools
  • Provide Performance Metrics, such as:
    • AUROC
    • Precision
    • Recall
    • Calibration
    • Sensitivity
    • Specificity
    • F1 score
    • Clinical utility
    • Computational efficiency

• ✓ SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY AND MECHANISTIC INSIGHTS

  Mechanistic Discovery Report - Provide evidence showing how the integrated data and computational methods identified mechanisms contributing to chronic disease. The report should describe why these mechanisms are scientifically important and how they inform prevention or intervention strategies.

  Examples:

  • Biological pathways
  • Environmental pathways
  • Behavioral pathways
  • Non-medical drivers of health pathways
  • Contextual factors
  • Healthcare system pathways
  • Community-level interactions
  • Temporal relationships

• ✓ GENERALIZABILITY AND POPULATION PERFORMANCE - Demonstrate model performance across:

  • Age groups
  • Sex
  • Geography
  • Socioeconomic contexts
  • Underrepresented populations
  • Disease severity
  • Healthcare settings

  Describe strategies used to evaluate:

  • Population representation
  • External validation
  • Transferability
  • Model robustness

• ✓ COMPUTATIONAL INNOVATION, TRANSPARENCY AND TRUST -

  Demonstrate computational approaches that identify knowledge to mitigate chronic disease disparities – innovative methodologies examples:

  • Responsible AI and Model Transparency
    • Explainability
    • Bias assessment
    • Reproducibility
    • Uncertainty quantification
    • Documentation
    • Model interpretability
    • Privacy protection
  • Computational Innovation (examples)
    • Novel computational methods
    • Advancement beyond existing approaches
    • Scalability
    • Efficiency
    • Reusability
    • multi-domain interactions
    • temporal interactions
    • synergistic or antagonistic

• ✓ RESEARCH TRANSLATION, UTILITY, AND SCIENTIFIC IMPACT

  Address these elements as appropriate:

  • Decision Support Tools and Dashboards
    • Interactive dashboards
    • Visualization tools
    • Risk prediction interfaces
    • Geospatial tools
    • Clinical or public health decision-support capabilities
    • User experience and accessibility
  • Reusable Research Infrastructure
    • AI-ready datasets
    • APIs and MCP services
    • Computational pipelines
    • Notebook collections
    • Python/R libraries
    • Metadata templates
    • Containerized workflows
    • SCHARE-ready resources
  • Scientific Impact and Future Utility
    • Accelerate AI-enabled chronic disease research
    • Improve whole-person health research
    • Inform intervention development
    • Enable future clinical or public health applications
    • Create durable infrastructure for the broader scientific community
    • Research applications

To be eligible to win a prize under this Challenge, a Participant (whether participating as a Team or Entity):

1. Shall have registered to participate in the Challenge under the rules promulgated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as published in this announcement;
2. Shall have complied with all the requirements set forth in this announcement;
3. In the case of a private entity, shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States, and in the case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, shall be a citizen of the United States. However, non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents can participate as a member of a team that otherwise satisfies the eligibility criteria. Non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents are not eligible to win a monetary prize (in whole or in part). Their participation as part of a winning team, if applicable, may be recognized when the results are announced.
4. Shall not be a federal entity or federal employee acting within the scope of their employment;
5. 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;
6. 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 Challenge;
7. Shall not be a judge of the Challenge, or any other party involved with the design, production, execution, or distribution of the Challenge or the immediate family of such a party (i.e., spouse, parent, step-parent, child, or step-child).
8. Shall be 18 years of age or older at the time of submission.

1. Federal grantees and recipients of cooperative agreements or other transaction (OT) awards are eligible to participate in the Challenge but may not use Federal funds from a grant award, cooperative agreement, or OT award to develop their Challenge submission or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submission unless use of such funds is consistent with the purpose, terms, and conditions of the grant award, cooperative agreement, or OT award. Each Participant intending to use Federal grant, cooperative agreement, or OT award funds must register for and participate in the Challenge as an entity on behalf of the awardee institution, organization, or entity. If a winning Participant uses Federal grant, cooperative agreement, or OT award funds to participate in the Challenge, the prize must be treated as program income for purposes of the original grant, cooperative agreement, or OT award in accordance with applicable Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards [2 CFR § 200]. Participants using Federal grant, cooperative agreement, or OT award funds to participate and/or report prize funding as program income (for winning Participants) should coordinate with the awarding official at the federal awarding agency.
2. Federal contractors may not use federal funds from a contract to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submissions.
3. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) 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 Challenge, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or otherwise.
4. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) agrees Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) should not be used to develop the writing, imagery, or data of a submission.
5. Based on the subject matter of the Challenge, 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 Challenge participation, no Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) participating in the Challenge 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 Challenge activities in order to participate in this Challenge.
6. A Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) shall not be deemed ineligible because the Participant used federal facilities or consulted with federal employees during the Challenge if the facilities and employees are made available to all Participants participating in the Challenge on an equitable basis.
7. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) 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.
8. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) 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. Each Participant will retain all other intellectual property rights in their submissions, as applicable. To participate in the Challenge, 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.
9. Each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) agrees to follow all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and policies.
10. Each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) participating in this Challenge must comply with all terms and conditions of these rules, and participation in this Challenge constitutes each such Participant’s full and unconditional agreement to abide by these rules. Winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements herein.
11. As a condition for winning a cash prize in this Challenge, each Participant (whether participating as an Individual or as a Team or Entity) 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.

Disqualification

Submissions may be disqualified for plagiarism, falsification of any information submitted, use of copyrighted material without permission, and use of profanity, violent images, or nudity. NIMHD is not responsible for lost, late, incomplete, invalid, unintelligible, or misdirected entries, which will be disqualified.

Award Approving Official

The Award Approving Official will be Monica Webb Hooper, PhD, (Acting) Director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, or as otherwise delegated.

Payment of the Prize

Prizes awarded under this Challenge will be paid by electronic funds transfer and may be subject to federal income taxes. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)/NIH will comply with the Internal Revenue Service withholding and reporting requirements, where applicable. Entities participating in this Challenge are encouraged, but not required, to request and obtain a free Unique Entity ID (UEI), if they have not already done so, via SAM.gov as this will expedite prize payment. Additional information can be found at https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration.

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

Legal and Participation Terms

Participation in this Challenge does not create a clinician-patient relationship, and content shared on the platform does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, guidance, or instruction regarding any disease or health condition. Participants should consult qualified healthcare professionals regarding personal medical decisions or health conditions.

The views expressed by participants do not necessarily reflect those of the HHS, NIH, NIMHD or the federal government.