Trump Signs Order Creating Women’s Health Task Force and NIH Division

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on October 19 establishing a White House women’s health task force and a new women’s health division at the National Institutes of Health, an initiative First Lady Melania Trump helped shape. The order, titled Advancing Women’s Health to Improve Outcomes in All Phases of Life, calls for federal efforts to address gaps in research and care. The task force is to be led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, according to the White House. The NIH division will be added alongside the agency’s existing Office of Research on Women’s Health, rather than replacing it. The White House described the new division as having a broader mandate extending beyond research funding. The order identifies a wide range of health concerns for attention, including maternal and mental health, endometriosis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease and stroke. It also sets out priorities promoted by Melania Trump: directing research toward conditions that disproportionately affect women, using artificial intelligence to advance understanding of female biology, moving promising...