Jill Biden Will Lead New Initiative To Boost Federal Government Research Into Women's Health

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Monday announced a White House initiative aimed at increasing federal attention and funding for health research for women, who make up more than half the U.S. population but remain understudied and underrepresented in medical research.

Such underrepresentation could lead to significant research gaps and potentially serious health consequences for women across the country, Biden administration officials and other Biden administration officials told reporters at a White House briefing to announce the new effort.

The White House Women's Health Research Initiative will be led by First Lady Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council.

President Joe Biden said he has long believed in the “power of research” to save lives and provide high-quality health care to people who need it. Accompanied by the first lady and other officials who will play a role in the government-wide effort, Biden signed documents Monday in the Oval Office directing federal departments and agencies to begin their work.

“To advance science and strengthen our ability to prevent, detect and treat disease, we must be bold,” the president said in a written statement. She said the initiative would "stimulate innovation in women's health and close research gaps."

Jill Biden told the conference that earlier this year she met with former first lady of California and women's health advocate Maria Shriver, who raised the "need for efforts inside and outside government to close remaining gaps" in women's health research. high."

“When I told my husband Joe a few months ago, he listened. And then he got to work,” the first lady said. “That’s what he does.”

Jill Biden has been involved in women's health issues since the early 1990s, after several of her friends were diagnosed with breast cancer and she created a program in Delaware to educate high school girls about breast health.

Shriver said she and other women's health advocates have pushed for research equity for decades, but the Democratic president and first lady "understand that we cannot answer the question of how to medically treat women." it will just arrive. . research."

Women make up two-thirds of people with Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis and more than three-quarters of those diagnosed with the autoimmune disease, Shriver said.

Women suffer from depression and anxiety at twice the rate of men, and women of color are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women. Millions of women experience the side effects of menopause every day.

“The implication is that we will not be able to cure or prevent their disease unless we intervene and fund the necessary research,” Shriver said during the call. “Today that is changing.”

Jennifer Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said the event will include heads of government departments and agencies important to women's health research, including the heads of the departments of Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, Defense and the National Institutes healthcare. Health. healthcare. among the others.

Women's health issues were raised by a majority of women on the Senate Health Committee during the confirmation hearing for Dr. Monica Bertagnoli to become permanent director of the National Institutes of Health, the world's leading biomedical research agency. Bertagnoli gave a broad response, saying that very little is known about women's health at all stages of life.

Biden's memo asks members to report back within 45 days with "specific recommendations" to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of women's health problems. They are also asked to identify “priority areas” such as research starting with heart attacks in women. until menopause, when additional investment can be “transformative.”

The President also wants to work with the academic, private and philanthropic communities.

Carolyn Mazur will lead the investigation. Mazure came to the first lady's office from Yale Medical School, where she founded the Women's Health Research Center.

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AP Medical Writer Laura Neergaard contributed to this report.

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