This Thanksgiving, HealthyWomen is grateful to President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council for launching the first-ever Initiative on Women’s Health Research.

At HealthyWomen, we know women’s health is more than gynecological or reproductive health. It is the head-to-toe health of all women — who represent more than half of the nation’s population.

For far too long, women’s health research has been underfunded and women have been underrepresented in clinical trials. We have made progress since the days when little men were used as stand-ins for women in clinical trials, but a lot of work still needs to be done to make up for decades of lost research.

This lack of investment limits our understanding of how conditions, and the treatments in development to manage or cure them, specifically affect women. Women’s health outcomes are simply still not where they should be in 2023.

Through the Initiative on Women’s Health Research, the White House is taking a big step in improving health outcomes for women and sending a strong message that women’s health research needs to be prioritized at the federal level.

Thank you President Biden, Dr. Biden and the White House Gender Policy Council. This initiative gives HealthyWomen, and all women across the nation, hope that the future of women’s health will see an increase in innovation and a decrease in research gaps.