Advancing Women's Health Research and Innovation
The order directs federal agencies to integrate women's health research across the federal funding portfolio, strengthen research and data standards, prioritize grants targeting women's health gaps, and launch a dedicated scientific assessment of menopause.
It formalizes and expands the White House Initiative on Women's Health Research, requiring agencies to report funding gaps and recommend new investments — a structural push to close decades of underrepresentation of women in biomedical research.
What this order does
What it orders
The order directs six agency Members of the Initiative — including the Departments of Defense, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Veterans Affairs, the EPA, and the National Science Foundation — to develop or strengthen research and data standards that embed women's health into all relevant federally funded research. It requires agencies to update grant application materials and reporting requirements, improve recruitment of women into clinical trials, identify and prioritize funding opportunities for women's health, and invest in innovation mechanisms including prizes, challenges, and small-business programs. It also directs HHS to consider AI's impact on women's health research and instructs the Directors of OMB and the Gender Policy Council to identify funding gaps and submit recommendations to the President.
Within 90 days, HHS must launch a comprehensive scientific assessment of menopause and develop new public-facing resources on the topic. The Departments of Defense and VA must evaluate midlife health needs of women service members and veterans. An interagency subgroup must be established within 30 days. Agencies must report on data standards implementation within 90 days, and provide a full status report to the President within 180 days, with annual reporting thereafter. The order does not itself change any regulation, allocate new appropriations, or mandate any specific research outcome; all operative impacts depend on agency follow-through and future budget decisions.
Who it affects
Federal agencies directing and funding biomedical research, including NIH, DoD, VA, USDA, EPA, and NSF; researchers and institutions applying for federal grants; women participants in clinical trials; and women patients who may benefit from improved evidence-based treatments and diagnostics.
Why it matters
Researchers seeking federal funding may face new requirements to explain how their studies address women's health. Women enrolled in clinical trials may see improved recruitment standards and retention support. Future diagnostics and treatments could be better validated across women's biology, potentially closing longstanding gaps in preventive care and disease management.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
Implementation runs in three overlapping tracks: a 30-day subgroup formation, a 90-day reporting sprint by agencies on data standards and midlife health assessments, and a 180-day funding-gap analysis led by OMB and the Gender Policy Council. Each track feeds the next — agency reports inform OMB's gap analysis, which produces Presidential recommendations. After that, annual reporting to OMB closes the loop. Enforcement relies on reporting obligations rather than penalties; OMB's annual budget consultations provide the primary lever for accountability.
Actions and deadlines
- Establish and co-chair an interagency subgroup to align research and data standards across agencies
- Agency Members report to the Chair of the Initiative on actions taken to strengthen research and data standards
- HHS launches comprehensive scientific assessment of menopause and develops evidence-based research agenda
- HHS evaluates evidence-based interventions to improve women's menopausal and perimenopausal experiences
- HHS considers developing new common data elements and survey tools for women's midlife health data
- HHS develops comprehensive public resources on menopause research, findings, and treatment options
- Departments of Defense and VA evaluate midlife health needs of women service members and veterans and develop recommendations
- OMB and Gender Policy Council Directors develop guidance for assessing agency funding gaps in women's health research
- Agency Members report to OMB and Gender Policy Council Directors identifying funding needed to catalyze women's health research
- Agency Members report to the President on status of implementation of research and data standards
- OMB and Gender Policy Council Directors submit funding gap recommendations to the President
- Agency Members report annually to the President on implementation of research and data standards
- OMB provides annual summary of agency progress and new recommendations to the President