Application process
Texas Health Catalyst’s application process works to identify promising health and life sciences innovations and propel them toward real-world impact. Accepted applicants receive expert support and funding to accelerate their project’s journey toward viable solutions that enhance health outcomes.
Since Texas Health Catalyst’s inception, numerous projects have flourished after participation in the program, achieving significant milestones and garnering attention from investors and industry leaders.
Call for proposals
Texas Health Catalyst’s call for proposals offers a unique opportunity for University of Texas at Austin innovators to shape the future of health care through cutting-edge solutions.
Dell Medical School collaborates with the Cockrell School of Engineering, College of Pharmacy, College of Natural Sciences, BioML Society, Discovery to Impact and Texas Robotics to offer the fall application cycle.
Fall 2026 Challenge: Advancing Women’s Health and Child Health Innovation
Texas Health Catalyst invites bold, multidisciplinary solutions that address significant unmet needs in women’s health and child health across the lifespan. Inspired by the spirit of grand-challenge innovation, this fall we seek ideas with the potential to transform prevention, diagnosis, treatment, monitoring, and quality of life for women, children and families. We encourage proposals that combine scientific excellence, clinical relevance, technological innovation, and a clear pathway toward clinical translation and commercialization.
Proposed innovations may address a broad range of conditions and challenges including reproductive and ovarian health, pregnancy and maternal health, gynecologic disorders, cardiovascular and metabolic conditions in women, mental health, pediatric diseases, newborn and infant health, adolescent health, developmental disorders, chronic childhood conditions, and other areas that improve health outcomes for women and children.
Priority topic areas
- Women’s health and reproductive health: Innovations addressing ovarian health, fertility, pregnancy, menopause, gynecologic conditions and other health challenges affecting women across the lifespan.
- Maternal, child and adolescent health: Solutions that improve health outcomes for mothers, infants, children, and adolescents, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, developmental health and chronic disease management.
- Early detection and precision diagnostics: Novel approaches for earlier, more accurate detection of disease and health risks, including biomarkers, imaging, molecular diagnostics, newborn screening, point-of-care technologies, AI-enabled diagnostics.
- Therapeutics and medical technologies: Innovations that advance prevention, treatment, and disease management through drugs, biologics, devices, regenerative medicine, digital therapeutics and other emerging technologies.
- Digital health, AI and data science: Applications of digital health, artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive analytics, remote monitoring, and decision-support tools that improve health outcomes and care delivery.
- Health equity and access: Solutions that reduce disparities, improve access to care, address underserved populations, and advance equitable health outcomes for women and children.
- Care delivery and patient experience: Innovations that enhance care coordination, patient engagement, clinical workflows, caregiver support, and healthcare delivery across clinical and community settings.
- Clinician-identified unmet needs: Projects developed with clinical partners that address persistent challenges in diagnosis, treatment, care delivery, workflow efficiency or long-term disease management.
General open call
In addition to the fall challenge, Texas Health Catalyst always seeks bold, practical ideas that make health care better for everyone. The general open call for proposals welcomes any innovation aimed at improving how people receive, experience and benefit from care.
Texas Health Catalyst is especially interested in solutions that strengthen human connection, enhance patient and provider experiences, and address real-world challenges across the health ecosystem. Potential focus areas include:
- Behavioral health innovations
- Community health solutions
- Patient experience improvements
- Health care accessibility tools
- Prevention and wellness approaches
- Care coordination platforms
At its core, health care is about people. If your idea helps improve the way care is delivered, experienced or accessed — in any setting — submit your idea.
Eligibility, timeline and more
Eligibility
Texas Health Catalyst seeks innovators who are ready to collaborate, incorporate expert feedback and commit to advance their projects toward real-world impact. Innovators who meet either of the following criteria are eligible to participate in the application cycle:
- University of Texas at Austin faculty and staff
- University of Texas at Austin physicians in training (residents and fellows), medical students, postdoctoral students and graduate students (with faculty supervision)
Proposal Requirements
Applicant proposals should accomplish the following:
- Address a clearly defined unmet health care need aligned with the challenge.
- Provide compelling preliminary evidence of the solution’s novelty and potential.
- Describe a commercially viable path to market.
- Present a realistic one-year plan with milestones to mitigate the most critical risks.
- Outline the use of up to $50,000.
Timeline
- Application opens: Aug. 3
- Information session: Aug. 18 (RSVP »)
- Application closes: Sept. 6, 11:59 p.m. CT
- Finalists announced: October
- Mentor meetings: October—December
- Showcase event: Dec. 10
- Award announcement: December
Key dates are subject to change.
Benefits
Texas Health Catalyst’s goal is to help innovators understand the path to market, refine their concepts, mitigate the most pressing clinical and commercial risks, and take concrete steps toward creating impactful health care solutions. To this end, Texas Health Catalyst provides accepted applicants the following benefits:
- Faciliated mentorship by clinical and industry experts
- Trained student associates to guide project development
- Invaluable insights on market potential and concept refinement
- Funding up to $50,000 to support critical research and development
- Subcontracts for the sole purpose of funded project activities
- Equipment, supplies and software for the sole purpose of funded project activities
- Principal investigator compensation (salary and fringe benefits)
- Resident, fellow, postdoctoral researcher, medical student and/or graduate student salaries
- Research staff support
- Software
- Indirect costs
- Administrative support
- Startup creation and support
- Computers
- Hiring expenses (background checks)
- Patient care
- Tuition
Contact
Questions? Contact the program at texashealthcatalyst@austin.utexas.edu.
Assessment rubric
The program’s evaluation process ensures that proposals align with the overall goal of identifying health innovations with the highest potential for clinical impact and potential success. The rubric covers three key domains: clinical/scientific application, development and commercialization. Each domain includes specific criteria aimed at assessing the feasibility, potential impact and commercial viability of proposed innovationss.
The clinical/scientific application domain evaluates the potential impact of the innovation on patient outcomes and the scientific rationale behind it.
Texas Health Catalyst assesses whether the innovation addresses a significant unmet medical need, its potential to improve patient outcomes and its comparative advantage over existing therapies.
The development domain delves into the technical feasibility of the innovation, its intellectual property protection, resource availability, regulatory pathway and development timeline.
Texas Health Catalyst looks for a clear and realistic development plan, identification of key milestones and strategies to mitigate potential risks.
The commercialization domain explores the market potential, reimbursement landscape, competitive landscape and marketing strategy of the innovation.
Texas Health Catalyst assesses the potential market size, timing for commercialization, pricing strategy, barriers to entry and potential exit strategies.