Biden’s Executive Order directs agencies to ramp up research on women’s health
President Biden's new executive order, which includes $200 million for research at the National Institutes of Health, directs federal agencies to explore ways to develop new resources to guide women on prevention and treatment.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday, launching the first White House initiative on women’s health Research. In a statement the President said the research will “…pioneer the next generation of scientific research and discovery for women’s health.” The order, he said, will direct the “most comprehensive set of executive actions ever taken” to address women’s health by prioritizing it across the federal government.
The order will support research into women’s midlife health and diseases that occur after menopause. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be directed to increase data collection about women’s midlife health and find ways to improve management of menopause-related issues.
More than 20 actions and commitments will be taken by federal agencies, including $200 million for research at the National Institutes of Health. These actions follow first lady Jill Biden’s announcement of $100 million in funding for women’s health.
The president and the first lady launched the White House initiative on women’s health research in November. Jill Biden has spearheaded the effort by traveling across the country to tour research institutions and speak with women and health care innovators about the need to transform women’s health research.
Biden’s original memorandum directs members to report back within 45 days with “concrete recommendations” to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of women’s health issues. It also asks them to set “priority areas of focus,” such as research ranging from heart attacks in women to menopause, where additional investments could be “transformative.”
Related: Biden announces new initiative to ‘spur innovation’ in women’s health research
Earlier this month, at his State of the Union address, the President called on Congress to make a $12 billion investment in new funding for women’s health research. This investment would be used to create a Fund for Women’s Health Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance a cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research agenda and to establish a new nationwide network of research centers of excellence and innovation in women’s health—which would serve as a national gold standard for women’s health research across the lifespan.
The Executive Order also directs the integration of women’s health across the federal research portfolio, prioritizes investments in women’s health research, galvanizes new research on women’s midlife health, and assesses unmet needs to support women’s health research.