ICYMI: First Lady Jill Biden Launches First-Ever White House Initiative on Women's Health Research

This week, President Joe Biden announced the first-ever White House Initiative on Women's Health Research, an effort led by First Lady Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council. The new initiative will fundamentally change how we approach and fund women's health research.

White House Initiative on Women's Health Research in the News

Associated Press: Jill Biden will lead new initiative to boost federal government research into women's health
[Darlene Superville, 11/13/23]

The Biden administration on Monday announced a White House initiative to improve how the federal government approaches and funds research into the health of women, who make up more than half of the U.S. population but remain understudied and underrepresented in health research. That underrepresentation can lead to big gaps in research and potentially serious consequences for the health of women across the country, Biden administration officials and others told reporters during a White House conference call to announce the new effort. The White House Initiative on Women's Health Research will be led by First Lady Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council.

The Today Show: On the White House Initiative on Women's Health Research
[The Today Show, 11/14/23]

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: "There is a big White House Initiative, you were there on Monday. Tell us about it."
MARIA SHRIVER: [The] White House Initiative - first one ever for Women's Health Research, so it's a big milestone for women and diseases that affect women..."

The Hill: White House establishing initiative focused on women's health research
[Alex Gangitano, 11/13/23]

The White House announced Monday it is establishing an initiative focused on women's health research, which will be led by First Lady Jill Biden. To launch the initiative, which will also be led by the White House Gender Policy Council, President Biden will direct multiple agencies to deliver recommendations to advance women's health research within 45 days. The initiative will then find areas for additional investments, like in research around heart attacks in women and menopause, according to the White House, which also plans to engage the private sector and philanthropic leaders. The chair of the initiative will be Carolyn Mazure, a professor in women's health research, psychiatry, and psychology at Yale School of Medicine. She created Women's Health Research at Yale center and worked at the National Institutes of Health.

Fortune: Jill Biden announces a White House initiative focused on women's health research: This 'has been underfunded for decades'
[Alexa Mikhail, 11/13/23]

The White House today announced the nation's first initiative for Women's Health Research, which will be led by First Lady Jill Biden. "We have a clear goal to fundamentally change how we approach and fund women's health research," Biden said during a press conference ahead of the announcement Monday morning. The initiative, guided by the White House Gender Policy Council, will coordinate with federal, executive departments and agencies including the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, and Veterans Affairs, and the Office of Management and Budget.

The Messenger: Jill Biden to Lead New Initiative Designed to Change Approach to Women's Health
[Nicole Gaudiano and Rebecca Morin, 11/13/23]

First Lady Jill Biden is setting out to solve a problem she said she's heard from every woman she knows. All of them, she said, leave the doctor with more questions than answers because there isn't enough research yet on how to manage and treat even common women's health conditions. "In 2023, that is unacceptable," she said in a statement. The Biden administration is launching a White House Initiative on Women's Health Research, led by Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council, an effort that's intended to change how the U.S. approaches and funds women's health research.

USA Today: Why can't women get better care for menopause or heart attacks? Jill Biden wants answers
[Maureen Groppe, 11/13/23]

Women aren't getting the care they need when it comes to menopause, heart attacks and other health issues, according to the Biden administration. Now, First Lady Jill Biden is giving the administration 45 days to amp up efforts to change that. Officials said they're trying to correct the fact that women have been understudied and underrepresented in health research, despite making up more than half the population. "If you ask any woman in America about her health care, she probably has a story to tell. You know her. She's a woman who gets debilitating migraines but doesn't know why and can't find treatment options that work for her," the First Lady told reporters Monday. "She's the woman going through menopause, who visits with her doctor and leaves with more questions than answers." The new initiative announced Monday will be led by Dr. Carolyn M. Mazure, who recently joined Biden's office from the Yale School of Medicine. At Yale, Mazure created an interdisciplinary research center on the health of women, which studies topics ranging from cardiovascular disease to cancers.

The 19th: The White House wants to close the gap on health care research for women
[Jennifer Gerson, 11/13/23]

'If you ask any woman in America about her health care, she probably has a story to tell,' First Lady Jill Biden said.

President Joe Biden on Monday announced the first-ever White House Initiative on Women's Health Research, which will be led by First Lady Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council. The new initiative will be chaired and coordinated by Dr. Carolyn Mazure, who recently joined the White House from the Yale School of Medicine. "If you ask any woman in America about her health care, she probably has a story to tell," Jill Biden said on a call with reporters Monday morning. "She's the woman whose heart disease isn't recognized because her symptoms are considered noncardiac and the traditional testing used to diagnose a heart attack was developed based on men. Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women."

Spectrum News: White House launches initiative to boost women's health research
[Ryan Chatelain, 11/13/23]

President Joe Biden is establishing a White House Initiative on Women's Health Research, as officials hope to close a gender gap in studies that has left too many questions unanswered. First Lady Jill Biden, who will co-lead the effort, announced the initiative in a call with reporters Monday morning. She said the action was spurred by a meeting earlier this year between her and former TV journalist and California first lady Maria Shriver. Shriver, along with other women's health advocates, stressed to Jill Biden the need for such an effort inside and outside government. The First Lady then brought it to the president's attention.

CNBC The Exchange: On the White House Initiative on Women's Health Research
[CNBC, 11/13/23]

TRANSCRIPT: "First Lady Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council are set to lead a White House Initiative into Women's Health Research. The Biden Administration announced the program today with the goal of improving how the federal government funds and approaches research in women's health, an area that remains understudied. The President says he's a believer in the "power of research to help save lives."

UPI: Jill Biden announces new White House initiative for women's health research
[Don Jacobson, 11/13/23]

Saying medical research on women's health is "drastically underfunded," the Biden administration on Monday launched a new initiative on the topic headed by First Lady Jill Biden. The White House Initiative on Women's Health Research is meant to "galvanize" the federal government as well as the private and philanthropic sectors in an effort to "spur innovation, unleash transformative investment to close research gaps, and improve women's health," the White House said in announcing the effort. Chaired by Dr. Carolyn Mazure, a professor of psychiatry and psychology at Yale University, the initiative creates a cross-agency effort tasked with recommending a set of "concrete actions" to White House within 45 days on how to improve how research on women's health, focusing on eliminating inequalities that have led to "serious consequences for the health of women across the country."

Yale School of Medicine: First White House Initiative on Women's Health Research to be Directed by Yale's Carolyn M. Mazure
[Isabella Backman, 11/13/23]

President Biden has announced the launch of the first-ever White House Initiative on Women's Health Research, an effort to be led by First Lady Jill Biden and the White House's Gender Policy Council, and directed by Carolyn M. Mazure, PhD, founder and director of Yale School of Medicine's Women's Health Research at Yale. Mazure is the Norma Weinberg Spungen and Joan Lebson Bildner Professor in Women's Health Research and professor of psychiatry and of psychology at Yale. Historically, research on women's health has been chronically underfunded, with often significant consequences for women's health care. This first-ever White House initiative will strive to advance women's health research and shed light on conditions that are specific to women, disproportionately affect women, or affect women differently.

MedTech Dive: Biden initiative aims to accelerate women's health research
[Susan Kelly, 11/14/23]

A lack of research and data on women's health has left providers without the tools to adequately diagnose and treat conditions, including cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, autoimmune disorders and mental health conditions in women. The White House also flagged research gaps in menopause and endometriosis. "Research on women's health is drastically underfunded, leading to significant research gaps, with serious consequences for the health of women across the country," the administration said. The White House Initiative on Women's Health Research will be chaired by Yale University professor Carolyn Mazure, who will coordinate the work of the Office of the First Lady and the White House Gender Policy Council.

Motherly: Jill Biden will lead first-ever Initiative on Women's Health Research
[Jessica D'Argenio Waller, 11/14/23]

"Research on women's health has been underfunded for decades," Dr. Biden said. "Many conditions that mostly or only affect women, or affect women differently, have received little to no attention."

It's no secret that women's health research is abysmally underfunded—and as a result, many conditions affecting women are sorely under-studied. From preterm birth to menopause to endometriosis to autoimmune conditions like lupus (which primarily affect women), women have been underrepresented in clinical research for far too long. But a new White House Initiative on Women's Health Research aims to close the gender gap in clinical research. The effort is led by First Lady Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council, and is intended to "fundamentally change how we approach and fund women's health research," a White House press release says.

White House Initiative on Women's Health Research Resources

Event Remarks: Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by First Lady Jill Biden on a Press Call Announcing White House Initiative on Women's Health Research

Fact Sheet: President Joe Biden to Announce First-Ever White House Initiative on Women's Health Research, An Effort Led by First Lady Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council