In some of his last days in office, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden pledged to the women’s health research community that they would continue to support women’s health even after Biden steps down from the country’s top role in January.
Last week, the Bidens hosted the first White House Conference on Women’s Health Research in partnership with the Milken Institute.
The pair, who both spoke at the event, emphasized their intent to continue supporting women’s health research beyond their time in the White House. The administration has used its final year to solidify its reputation as pro women’s health as President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House. In his first term, Trump nominated three Supreme Court justices who joined the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, reversing Roe vs. Wade in June 2022.
“It has been the honor of my life to serve as your first lady and to join you in this work,” Jill Biden said at the event. “But my work doesn't stop in January, when Joe and I leave this house. I will keep building alliances like the ones that brought us here today, and I will keep pushing for funding for innovative research.”
The Biden administration has poured money into its novel initiative, which has thus far contributed $1 billion to women’s health research.
In March, Biden signed the Executive Order on Advancing Women's Health Research and Innovation, requiring federal agencies to consider women's health when reviewing research proposals, including women in clinical trials, strengthening research and data standards for women's health and prioritizing grants that address women's health.
Biden also created ARPA-H, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, and secured an annual contribution of $500 million in funding from the Department of Defense and a $200 million contribution from the National Institutes of Health.
The White House invited women's health leaders to speak at the conference on Dec. 11, including those that headed up the president and first lady's projects. It also featured speakers like Peloton's Robin Arzon, Midi Health's Joanna Strober and the New York Stock Exchange's Johanna Grossman, Ph.D.
Jenny Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said the Bidens have made more gains than any other administration on women's health.
“Women make up half the population, but for far too long, women's health research has been underfunded and has been understudied to close the research gaps and pioneer the next generation of discoveries. The President and the First Lady set out to fundamentally change how we approach and fund women's health research," Klein said.
Carolyn Mazure, Ph.D., chair of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, noted the "special moment" that women's health is experiencing and acknowledged the decades of work by women in the audience to help make it happen.
“Right now, we are at a very special moment in the history of women's health research, in that never before has there been such awareness, enthusiasm, support and momentum from government, academic research centers, nonprofits, philanthropy and industry, as well as from advocacy organizations,” Mazure said.
At the event, life science and healthcare business leaders discussed the historic lack of funding for women’s health research and the dearth of knowledge about how medical conditions affect women.
They discussed menopause, Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease, among other conditions, which disproportionately affect women yet have seen little research or sea change in early identification and treatment.
Maria Shriver, former first lady of California and founder of the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement, has worked with the Bidens on the White House Initiative for Women’s Health Research.
“Those who live [at the White House] matter. What they're interested in changes our nation. It changes the conversation that our nation has, and most importantly, it changes lives,” Shriver said.
Esther Krofah, executive vice president of Milken Institute Health, touted the energy and momentum of women’s health research under the Biden administration.
“We are seeing results across research, industry and advocacy. We have seen increased collaborations in elevation of women's health as a priority because of the leadership of the White House, more investment of funds are going into capital for women's health innovation, more teams. Teams are being built to scale innovations on everything from autoimmune disease to menopause to digital health solutions,” Krofah said. “Investments addressing the Women's Health gap could potentially boost the global economy by $1 trillion annually by 2040.”
Women shared their personal stories of why they got into women’s health research, many because of their personal struggles with health conditions like menopause, stroke, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s.
Time and again, women’s health leaders brought up situations where they or their loved ones were misdiagnosed and care was delayed because not enough research has been done on how these conditions impact women.
The situation can be even more dire for women of color and their families, Linda Goler Blount, president of the Black Women’s Health Imperative, said. She explained that Black families with sick children wait an average of seven to nine years longer for a diagnosis of a rare disease.
Strober, founder of virtual menopause care company Midi Health, called for more investment in women’s health companies like her own.
“We have to get women funded in all parts of this cycle. We have to get the angel funds thinking about women. We have to get the A and the B and the public markets all thinking about the fact that women outperform and women are great entrepreneurs and great CEOs and can build these women's companies," Strober said.