Fourteen innovators were selected to share $2 million in awards recognizing breakthroughs and promising approaches to improving health and well-being across the lifespan
WASHINGTON —The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) today announced the winners of the 2026 Healthy Longevity Global Competition Grand Prize Phase, awarding $2 million to innovators advancing bold ideas to improve health and well-being across the lifespan. Due to the exceptional quality of the applicant pool, the NAM selected two grand prize winners, two second-place winners, one third-place winner, and nine honorable mentions, recognizing 14 innovative projects from around the world.
The awards mark the culmination of the Healthy Longevity Global Competition (HLGC), a multiyear, international initiative launched by the NAM in 2019 to accelerate research, innovation, and entrepreneurship in pursuit of longer, healthier lives. Through a network of global collaborator organizations, including sponsors that funded and administered awards in their respective countries or regions, the competition welcomed innovators from all backgrounds across more than 50 countries and territories. Over the past seven years, the NAM and its global partners granted over 725 awards, providing more than $38 million in funding.
“The Healthy Longevity Global Competition was built on a simple but powerful idea: breakthroughs can come from anywhere when talented people are given the opportunity to pursue bold ideas and learn from one another,” said NAM President Monica M. Bertagnolli. “These grand prize awardees reflect the extraordinary potential of a global community working to generate innovative solutions to help people everywhere live longer, healthier lives.”
All prior HLGC awardees were eligible to apply for the 2026 Grand Prize, which was designed to recognize innovations with the greatest impact, or potential for impact, on healthy longevity in humans. Fourteen winning projects were selected from a competitive pool of 147 applications, reflecting the breadth of innovative approaches emerging from the global competition.
Grand Prize Winners ($700,000 per recipient)
IMM01-STEM: A First-in-Class Regenerative Biologic Restoring Muscle Function, Metabolism, and Quality of Life in Aging Adults
Principal Investigator: Hans Keirstead, Immunis, Inc.
Sponsor: U.S. National Academy of Medicine
MenoGo: Restoring Ovarian Hormone Production to Prevent Menopause
Principal Investigator: David Pépin, Massachusetts General Hospital
Sponsor: U.S. National Academy of Medicine
Second Place ($175,000 per recipient)
AI-Powered Retinal Screening for Early Detection of Chronic Diseases
Principal Investigator: Victoria Chuchina, CheckEye
Sponsor: EIT Health of the European Union (Ukraine)
Ryan®: An AI Wellness Ecosystem for Healthy Longevity
Principal Investigator: Mohammad H. Mahoor, DreamFace Technologies, LLC
Sponsor: U.S. National Academy of Medicine
Third Place ($125,000)
Optimal Health for the Oldest Old: Redefining Metrics and Translating Healthy Longevity
Principal Investigator: Xiaoming Shi, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine)
Sponsor: Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences
Honorable Mentions ($10,000 per recipient)
From Musical Medicine to Adaptive Care Infrastructure: A Longitudinal Ecosystem for Healthy Longevity
Principal Investigator: Elizabeth Murnane, Dartmouth College
Sponsor: U.S. National Academy of Medicine
A Bioactive Artificial Saliva Spray to Improve Functional Health and Quality of Life in Older Adults
Principal Investigator: Juan Carlos Forero Oliveros, Universidad de Valparaíso
Sponsor: Chile Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarollo
Preventing Avoidable Blindness Through Smart Home-Monitoring of Vision
Principal Investigator: Pete Jones, City St George’s, University of London
Sponsor: United Kingdom Research and Innovation
Democratizing Cardiovascular Diagnostics: A Portable Lab-on-a-Chip for Healthy Longevity
Principal Investigator: Jung-Tang Huang, National Taipei University of Technology
Sponsor: Academia Sinica
ConCare: A Multimodal Contactless Sensing System for Early Neurodegenerative Detection and Continuous Elder Care
Principal Investigator: Chenshu Wu, The University of Hong Kong
Sponsor: Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
The Posterior Fulcrum Support Strategy: A Novel Paradigm for the Reduction and Global Promotion of Geriatric Hip Fracture Care
Principal Investigator: Liangyuan Wen, Beijing Hospital
Sponsor: Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences
From Cath Lab to Bedside: A Non-Invasive AI Platform That Brings Intracardiac Pressure Measurement to Every Older Adult with Heart Failure
Principal Investigator: Andrew J. Sauer, BJC Saint Luke’s
Sponsor: EIT Health of the European Union (Sweden)
Development and Clinical Application of Ostrich-Derived Freeze-Drying Small Diameter Decellularized Vascular Graft
Principal Investigator: Atsushi Mahara, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center Research Institute
Sponsor: Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development
Multi-Tissue Platform for Next-Generation Mechanistic Dissection and Therapeutic Targeting of Sarcopenia
Principal Investigator: Teh Bin Tean, National Cancer Centre Singapore
Sponsor: Ministry of Health and National Research Foundation of Singapore
Read more about the Grand Prize winners and their projects.
About the Healthy Longevity Global Competition
The Healthy Longevity Global Grand Challenge was founded by the National Academy of Medicine in 2019, consisting of the Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity and the Healthy Longevity Global Competition. The Global Competition is a seven-year, multi-phase international challenge that encourages bold, transformative ideas through three stages of support — Catalyst, Accelerator, and Grand Prize. Catalyst Awards provided $50,000 in seed funding for bold, early-stage ideas without requiring preliminary data or traditional institutional credentials.
The Global Competition is coordinated across a network of international partners, each running a regional or national program. In addition to the NAM, other global organizations that issued Catalyst Awards include Academia Sinica, Agency for Medical Research and Development of Japan, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, EIT Health of the European Union, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong, Ministry of Health of Singapore, National Agency for Research and Development of Chile, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health of the United States, Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, and UK Research and Innovation.
The Healthy Longevity Global Competition is supported by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, John and Valerie Rowe, United Therapeutics Corporation, Anthony J. Yun and Kimberly A. Bazar, The John A. Hartford Foundation, Next50 Initiative, the Bia-Echo Foundation, and the Yun Family Foundation. The Grand Prize is supported by United Therapeutics Corporation and Anthony J. Yun and Kimberly A. Bazar.
Learn more about the NAM’s Healthy Longevity Global Competition.
The NAM is an independent, nonpartisan institution and one of three academies that make up the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The National Academies are private, nonprofit institutions that work outside government to provide independent, objective advice on matters of science, engineering, and health. The NAM has over 2,600 members elected in recognition of outstanding professional achievement, more than 80 of whom have received the Nobel Prize.
