June 15, 2026 | By Janet A. Aker, Defense Health Agency Communications
The Defense Health Agency’s Innovation Fellowship Program, announced in July 2025, is seeking additional DHA personnel working at military hospitals and clinics to join its cadre of front-line innovators. Front-line staff are the key to bolstering warfighter readiness and improving treatment options due to their proximity to patients every day at every level of care.
The IFP has supported 31 fellowship projects in fiscal year 2025. The program has received 29 submissions and is still accepting fellows’ projects for fiscal year 2026. The IFP reviews these applications on a rolling basis determined by alignment to the DHA director’s priorities, relevance, feasibility, impact, and scalability. Applications are open to uniformed service personnel or DHA civilian employees.
“The Innovation Fellowship Program’s goal is to harness our front-line teams’ insights in improving the delivery of safe, quality healthcare for our nation’s warfighters,” said Dr. Pauline Swiger, the IFP director, retired U.S. Army colonel, and Ph.D. nurse-scientist. “Through this program and other innovation efforts, DHA aims to more effectively engage its staff, restore a sense of agency, and build a connected community of problem-solvers focused on improving readiness across the DHA.”
How the IFP supports fellows’ projects
Fellows receive dedicated time to focus on their project, up to a 0.25% full-time employment deduction with supervisor approval, for up to nine months.
DHA supports fellows’ project with up to $10,000 for refining the solution, training, and time off, and up to $150,000 for testing the resulting prototype.
Subject matter experts mentor and coach the fellows to improve their skills. If all proves successful, the DHA will look at how the project can be scaled across military hospitals and clinics.
A specific IFP example: nutrition access expansion
The IFP is currently backing a project whose fellows created an online screening tool to connect military families to nutritional access benefits offered by the Department of Agriculture’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, commonly known as WIC.
“The IFP is a perfect fit for us to be able to bring an efficient, mobile-friendly way to screen military families and offer them resources,” said Dr. Binny Chokshi, who leads the project as a fellow. She is a pediatrician and researcher at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland.
“The innovation fellowship program is bridging the gap between three to four years of research and program development, and hopefully, enabling DHA support to continue for service members and their families for years to come,” said Chokshi.
With the unveiling of a new app June 5, DHA is investing in its commitment to strengthening military healthcare and supporting warfighter readiness, she said. By providing structure, resources, and a pathway to innovation, the DHA hopes to unlock creative potential at all levels of the organization.
