NIH and HeroX announce the winners of the first phase of the NIH ARISE - HIV LAUNCH competition

35 innovators each received $10,000 to drive the long-term implementation of the HIV delivery concept.

Bethesda, Maryland, September 29, 2026 / PRNewswire / -- The National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) Office of AIDS Research ( OAR ) and the Crowdsourcing Solutions Open Platform ( HeroX ) today announced the winners of the first phase of the NIH ARISE - HIV LAUNCH challenge. ARISE representing “ Advancing Research in Implementation Science to End HIV ” (advancing scientific research to end HIV ). This challenge aims to find practical methods for delivering long-acting HIV prevention and treatment in real-world settings.

Approximately 1.2 million people in the United States are infected with HIV, and about one-eighth of them are not even aware of their infection. This highlights the need for improved access, participation, and continuous care in the delivery of treatment. The NIH ARISE - HIV LAUNCH Challenge invites researchers and scientific experts, public health practitioners, medical professionals, community organizations, advocates, and early-career scholars to submit conceptual papers proposing promising solutions for the long-term prevention and/or treatment delivery of HIV.

The evaluation criteria for submitting proposals are: whether practical and informed ideas can be put forward to improve accessibility, participation, and implementation effectiveness within the HIV service delivery system, without the need for prototypes, pilot projects, or preliminary data.

The list of the complete winning teams and their affiliated institutions can be found at: https :// www.herox.com / NIHARISE-HIVLAUNCH /379- meet-the-teams

Each winner of the first phase will receive $10,000 and will proceed to the second phase, "Implementation Planning." During this phase, they will receive support to develop more detailed plans, which include milestones, deliverables, outcome measurement indicators, and evaluation criteria.

HeroX Director of Customer Success Jamie Elliott said, "Congratulations to all 35 winners of the first phase. This group has proven that the best ideas regarding how to provide HIV prevention and treatment actually already existed." He also added, "The providers of solutions come from a diverse range of backgrounds, many of whom are from communities where these gaps are felt every day. The most practical approaches often come from there."

The winners of the first phase were selected from over 100 submissions from across the United States, reflecting a wide range of geographical regions and project diversity, as well as the strong interest of the HIV research and implementation community in reimagining how long-term prevention and treatment can reach the intended populations. The submitting organizations included academia, hospitals and clinical care institutions, community organizations and non-profit organizations, for-profit companies, as well as individuals or participants not affiliated with any organization. The submissions covered a range of settings from large urban medical systems to rural counties with higher HIV incidence rates. Many of the proposals were specifically targeted at rural communities and the southern United States, where the proportion of new HIV diagnoses is disproportionate and these areas are often not covered by specialized federal urban funding.

The proposed delivery scenarios are also diverse. Pharmacies, as well as digital platforms or remote outreach models, are the most common, followed by mobile service units and street outreach, community organizations, hospitals and emergency departments, as well as federal qualified medical centers. Other solutions focus on correctional institutions, specialized HIV, infectious disease clinics, substance use treatment programs, as well as home or remote medical delivery; many solutions integrate multiple scenarios into a single model. Pharmacies also play an important role, whether as the main site for medication distribution, as partners in procurement or supply chains, or as community access points.

For more information about the NIH ARISE - HIV LAUNCH competition, please visit: https :// www.herox.com / NIHARISE-HIVLAUNCH.

About

HeroX is a leading crowdsourcing innovation platform that connects complex challenges with global diversified problem solvers. Visit www.herox.com to learn about the latest challenges.

The AIDS Research Office is the coordinating and prioritization agency for the research agenda of NIH HIV / AIDS, promoting research to end the HIV pandemic and improve the health outcomes of HIV感染者.