The
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA, formerly ARPA) has been the military's in-house innovator since 1958, a year after the USSR launched
Sputnik. DARPA is widely known for creating
ARPAnet, the predecessor of the
internet, and has been instrumental in advancing hardened electronics,
brain-computer interface technology,
drones, and
stealth technology. Inspired by the success of DARPA, in 2002 the
Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA) was created and in 2006 the
Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) was created. This was followed by the
Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) in 2009 and the
Advanced Research Projects Agency–Infrastructure (ARPA-I) in 2022. DARPA also inspired the
Advanced Research and Invention Agency in the UK and in 2021 the Biden administration proposed ARPA-C for climate research.
The Suzanne Wright Foundation proposed "HARPA" in 2017 to focus on pancreatic cancer and other challenging diseases. A white paper was published by former Obama White House staffers,
Michael Stebbins and
Geoffrey Ling through the Day One Project that proposed the creation of a new federal agency modeled on DARPA, but focused on health. That proposal was adopted by President Biden's campaign and was the model used for establishing ARPA-H. In June 2021 noted biologists
Francis S. Collins (then head of the NIH),
Tara Schwetz,
Lawrence Tabak, and
Eric Lander penned an article in
Science supporting the idea. Dr. Collins became an important champion of the idea on Capitol Hill and the legislation garnered numerous sponsors in the
117th Congress. In September 2022,
Renee Wegrzyn was appointed as the agency's inaugural director. She was dismissed by the
Trump administration in February 2025. Jason Roos served as acting director until Alicia Jackson's appointment as director in November 2025. == Research ==