The Brink: What are some of the top priorities in health and medicine for ARPA-H? And what are some of the challenges in biomedical and health research the agency is trying to overcome?

Best: One of the most exciting aspects of ARPA-H is that we are disease and technology agnostic. We will tackle a wide range of health, healthcare, and biomedical problems. Our programs and projects exemplify this approach, pursuing radical solutions to persistent, intractable problems in health. Also, ARPA-H is unique from industry, academia, and other government agencies, because we are positioned to address health problems that cannot readily be accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity.

There are many ways we strive to maximize ARPA-H’s impact in the health ecosystem. First, we rethink why we have a particular problem and identify the fundamental challenges in overcoming that problem. By breaking down the problem into fundamental components, we position ourselves to fund more transformative solutions to those challenges. We look to fund teams that propose innovative solutions to those defined problems with outcomes and deliverables in mind. For example, the solution might end up being inspired by a technology that was not originally developed with health in mind or a combination of approaches that, on their own, wouldn’t solve the problem.

The Brink: Since it’s a relatively new agency, what have been the biggest moments of success so far?

Best: The agency has been busy these past two years. The agency has launched several programs, in areas such as osteoarthritis, cancer, drug delivery, and infectious disease. Our agency’s nationwide health innovation network, ARPANET-H, just celebrated its first birthday. ARPANET-H is anchored by three ARPA-H regional hubs with a growing network of spokes from around the country representing the diversity of people, settings, and capabilities that encompass the American health ecosystem.

The Brink: I know health equity is a big part of ARPA-H’s mission. Can you explain the importance of not only creating new solutions, but also addressing health disparities in the US?

Best: Our focus is not to nudge the needle on health research, but to create an agency that achieves transformational changes in how we improve health and equitable access to health solutions for all Americans. Our programs, projects, and initiatives push boundaries to ensure that their advancements benefit everyone, especially those who have historically been underrepresented in biomedical research and development efforts. Behind each of these is not only a new technical endeavor, but we are also piloting new business models and ways of working with the government. 

Most recently, we launched the Emerging Health Innovators (EHI) initiative for early career researchers and community health centers. EHI began with a network survey, which will gather information and insights from early career investigators, community innovators, and administrators at academic institutions, including minority-serving institutions and community-based organizations. The survey responses will inform a forthcoming funding solicitation, anticipated to be available in late 2024. To do what we envision will require ARPA-H to work together with a very broad group of stakeholders, both federal and nongovernmental—from industry to caregivers to patients—to ensure that we’re taking on the right problems and delivering solutions that work in the real world for the American people.

The Brink: When you come to BU, what are some pieces of advice you’ll provide on how researchers can work with ARPA-H?

Best: It’s important to remember that ARPA-H doesn’t aim for incremental advances; it seeks to address seemingly impossible barriers by funding “high-risk, high-payoff” programs. There are a variety of open funding opportunities with the agency to explore.

I recommend for those interested in these opportunities to ask: Is this a problem worth solving? What’s the impact? What else can this unlock? Additionally, ask what possible solutions to the problem would entail, how enabling and emerging technologies can be combined, extended, or adapted to solve the problem, why it was not possible five years ago, and why, without ARPA-H’s involvement, would it still not be solved five years from now? After the event, a great way to stay up-to-date with ARPA-H is to subscribe to our ARPA-H Vitals newsletter and engage with us on social media.