Executive order directs NIH to create women's health division

An executive order signed October 19, 2026, directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to establish a Women’s Health Division within an appropriate NIH institute or center within 90 days. The order, titled “Advancing Women’s Health to Improve Outcomes in All Phases of Life,” also creates a White House Women’s Health Task Force, according to an announcement from the White House.¹

The order identifies cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer disease, endometriosis, fibroids, infertility, menopause, and polyendocrine metabolic ovary syndrome among the conditions it says require further research.

What will the NIH Women’s Health Division do?

Working with the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health, the division is directed to increase scientific review of understudied women’s health conditions, advance and coordinate research, including replication studies, and promote research technologies intended to speed diagnosis and improve access to care.

Its charge also included strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration, supporting data and methods on sex-specific outcomes, increasing the participation of women and girls in clinical trials, and developing accountability measures for grant recipients under the NIH sex as a biological variable policy. The division is further tasked with facilitating the translation of research findings into clinical and public health practice at the federal, state, and local levels and with working with federal partners on coordination, policy, and career development in women’s health research.

Who will serve on the White House Women’s Health Task Force?

The task force will be co-chaired by the HHS secretary and the assistant to the president and chief of staff. Members include the secretaries of War, Agriculture, Labor, Education, and Veterans Affairs; the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; the FDA commissioner; the directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NIH, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health; and the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The co-chairs may invite additional administration officials and may hold hearings, meetings, and roundtables. HHS will fund the task force’s administrative costs.

The task force is charged with 4 focus areas: advancing women’s health science, including new therapies; translating research into policy and clinical practice, including updated clinical education and grant-making that prioritizes prevention; patient-centered, integrated care, including provider and medical product supply and potential agency pilot programs; and consultation with states, tribal nations, localities, community and faith-based organizations, the private sector, and philanthropic groups.

The order sets no deadlines or reporting requirements for the task force and specifies no funding amount, and implementation is subject to applicable law and the availability of appropriations. It revokes Executive Order 14120 of March 18, 2024, Advancing Women’s Health Research and Innovation, and the November 13, 2023, presidential memorandum establishing the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research.¹

How did women’s health organizations respond?

The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and the Women First Research Coalition (WFRC) issued a joint statement welcoming the order. The organizations said it complements their recently launched National Strategy to Close the Women’s Health Gap, which is backed by nearly 80 national organizations and calls for a $20 billion investment over 10 years across 5 areas: research and innovation, regulatory coordination and modernization, data evidence and infrastructure, clinical and research workforce, and public awareness and education.

“Robust and sustained funding is necessary to meaningfully advance research in women’s health and ensure those discoveries improve health outcomes in all phases of women’s lives,” the organizations stated.

The groups said they are prepared to work with the administration on a coordinated approach to women’s health and called for ensuring that the effort is “appropriately resourced.”²

References:

1. Advancing women’s health to improve outcomes in all phases of life. The White House. News release. Published October 19, 2026. Accessed October 19, 2026. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/10/advancing-womens-health-to-improve-outcomes-in-all-phases-of-life/
2. SWHR, ACOG, and WFRC release statement on announcement of new Women’s Health Division at NIH, White House Women’s Task Force. Society for Women’s Health Research. News release. Published October 19, 2026. Accessed October 19, 2026. https://swhr.org/swhr-acog-and-wfrc-release-statement-on-announcement-of-new-womens-health-division-at-nih-white-house-womens-health-task-force/