Application Requirements and Focus Areas
The Innovation for Health (IFH) program is a partnership between OSF HealthCare and Bradley University focused on developing practical solutions to health challenges in Central Illinois. The program supports the creation of new tools, technologies, and methods that remove barriers to care, promote health education, and advance healthcare training and community outreach.
The IFH program is open to BU faculty and OSF HealthCare clinicians. Proposals must identify at least two co-investigators: one BU faculty member and one OSF HealthCare clinician. Selected projects will receive one year of funding up to $50,000 with the option to re-apply for additional funding after the project is successfully completed.
Looking for a collaborator? We can help you find one here. Matching for this cycle will close on December 19, 2025.
As part of this arrangement, multidisciplinary teams will develop solutions in the following focus areas:
- Healthcare Analytics
Developing data-driven solutions that support faster decisions, more efficient workflows, and better outcomes. Projects may explore predictive or real-time insights that improve safety, coordination, and quality of care while reducing operational strain. - Medical Visualization
Enhancing clinical understanding of complex information through intuitive, interactive, and perceptually effective visual representations. This may involve 3D imaging, advanced rendering, or new ways to help both clinicians and patients see and understand what matters. - Data Security
Protecting sensitive information and critical systems from emerging digital threats. Efforts may focus on secure design, encryption, system resilience, and strategies that ensure patient care can continue safely and reliably in a highly connected environment. - Health Literacy
Improving how health information is communicated, understood, and acted upon. Projects should support clear, accessible interactions between care teams and patients, improving comprehension, trust, and follow-through on care plans. - Precision Medicine
Using individualized information (genetic, clinical, behavioral, and environmental) to guide prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Work may focus on integrating diverse data streams, building clinical decision support, or addressing trust, privacy, and equity. - Social Determinants of Health (SDoH)
Bringing upstream factors into the heart of care delivery. This includes understanding how housing, income, environment, education, and social context shape outcomes — and embedding that awareness into clinical decision-making and health system planning. - Rural Health
Expanding access, continuity, and quality of care for people in rural and underserved areas. Projects may strengthen connectivity, reimagine service delivery, or address the systemic barriers that keep care from reaching those who need it most. - Cancer-Related Research
Advancing prevention, detection, treatment planning, and survivorship strategies that can improve outcomes and close equity gaps. This may involve new analytic methods, visualization tools, or models of care that are more accessible and effective. - Translational Research to Community Health
Turning knowledge into action by embedding evidence into real care settings. Proposals should emphasize approaches that make research practical, sustainable, and responsive to local needs, ensuring benefits reach patients and communities directly. - Sustainability in Healthcare
Building approaches that support long-term system stability — financially, operationally, and environmentally. This includes solutions that strengthen care teams, reduce waste, ease workload, and make healthcare delivery more resilient.
Please see below for additional application requirements:
- List of Required Fields
- Scoring Guidelines
- Budget Template/Example
- Budget Justification Template/Requirements
*Per Bradley University (BU) policy, all proposals, contracts, and agreements for sponsored research must be internally reviewed before submission to an external organization. Therefore, on or before the IFH proposal deadline, the BU project lead must submit the project narrative, budget, and budget justification via OneAegis to ensure that all responsible parties agree to the submission. If requests for document modification and the BU approval process are not completed within five business days after the IFH proposal deadline, the proposal will be returned without review.
Innovation for Health (Winter 25/26)
Application Requirements and Focus Areas
The Innovation for Health (IFH) program is a partnership between OSF HealthCare and Bradley University focused on developing practical solutions to health challenges in Central Illinois. The program supports the creation of new tools, technologies, and methods that remove barriers to care, promote health education, and advance healthcare training and community outreach.
The IFH program is open to BU faculty and OSF HealthCare clinicians. Proposals must identify at least two co-investigators: one BU faculty member and one OSF HealthCare clinician. Selected projects will receive one year of funding up to $50,000 with the option to re-apply for additional funding after the project is successfully completed.
Looking for a collaborator? We can help you find one here. Matching for this cycle will close on December 19, 2025.
As part of this arrangement, multidisciplinary teams will develop solutions in the following focus areas:
- Healthcare Analytics
Developing data-driven solutions that support faster decisions, more efficient workflows, and better outcomes. Projects may explore predictive or real-time insights that improve safety, coordination, and quality of care while reducing operational strain. - Medical Visualization
Enhancing clinical understanding of complex information through intuitive, interactive, and perceptually effective visual representations. This may involve 3D imaging, advanced rendering, or new ways to help both clinicians and patients see and understand what matters. - Data Security
Protecting sensitive information and critical systems from emerging digital threats. Efforts may focus on secure design, encryption, system resilience, and strategies that ensure patient care can continue safely and reliably in a highly connected environment. - Health Literacy
Improving how health information is communicated, understood, and acted upon. Projects should support clear, accessible interactions between care teams and patients, improving comprehension, trust, and follow-through on care plans. - Precision Medicine
Using individualized information (genetic, clinical, behavioral, and environmental) to guide prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Work may focus on integrating diverse data streams, building clinical decision support, or addressing trust, privacy, and equity. - Social Determinants of Health (SDoH)
Bringing upstream factors into the heart of care delivery. This includes understanding how housing, income, environment, education, and social context shape outcomes — and embedding that awareness into clinical decision-making and health system planning. - Rural Health
Expanding access, continuity, and quality of care for people in rural and underserved areas. Projects may strengthen connectivity, reimagine service delivery, or address the systemic barriers that keep care from reaching those who need it most. - Cancer-Related Research
Advancing prevention, detection, treatment planning, and survivorship strategies that can improve outcomes and close equity gaps. This may involve new analytic methods, visualization tools, or models of care that are more accessible and effective. - Translational Research to Community Health
Turning knowledge into action by embedding evidence into real care settings. Proposals should emphasize approaches that make research practical, sustainable, and responsive to local needs, ensuring benefits reach patients and communities directly. - Sustainability in Healthcare
Building approaches that support long-term system stability — financially, operationally, and environmentally. This includes solutions that strengthen care teams, reduce waste, ease workload, and make healthcare delivery more resilient.
Please see below for additional application requirements:
- List of Required Fields
- Scoring Guidelines
- Budget Template/Example
- Budget Justification Template/Requirements
*Per Bradley University (BU) policy, all proposals, contracts, and agreements for sponsored research must be internally reviewed before submission to an external organization. Therefore, on or before the IFH proposal deadline, the BU project lead must submit the project narrative, budget, and budget justification via OneAegis to ensure that all responsible parties agree to the submission. If requests for document modification and the BU approval process are not completed within five business days after the IFH proposal deadline, the proposal will be returned without review.