President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday creating a new division at the National Institutes of Health and establishing [1] a White House task force focused on women’s health. The order sets out two distinct efforts, one housed at NIH and another operating through the White House.
First Lady Melania Trump opened the Rose Garden signing after championing the effort. Her prominent role at the event reflected her public support for the administration’s plans to direct more attention and research resources toward health conditions that disproportionately affect women.
“This is a transformative moment for women in America,” she said.
The first lady also promoted the executive order on X, where she outlined several priorities included in the initiative. Those priorities cover research funding, artificial intelligence, access to medications, affordability, and broader public discussion of women’s health.
The order will direct research funding toward finding cures for conditions that disproportionately affect women. That funding focus is one of several components described by the first lady as the administration moves to organize its women’s health agenda.
Another element encourages the use of artificial intelligence to speed up research. The executive order also seeks to accelerate women’s access to promising medications, connecting the new research push with an effort to make emerging treatments available more quickly.
Melania Trump said the initiative would work to ensure that medical breakthroughs are both accessible and affordable to women. She also said the order would help open a conversation around women’s health, adding a public discussion component to its research and access priorities.
Before turning to the executive order, President Trump praised renovations to the Rose Garden. He highlighted changes to the landscaping and discussed his efforts to build a White House ballroom during remarks at the signing.
Trump stated that the executive order was the first to establish a division devoted to women’s health. The newly created division will operate within the National Institutes of Health, giving the initiative a dedicated place inside the federal health research organization.
The new NIH division will not replace the NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health. That office was established in 1990 and has focused on research into women’s health, while the executive order creates a separate division within NIH.
The White House task force represents the second major structure established through Trump’s action. Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will lead the task force.
Wiles recently announced that she had finished treatment for breast cancer. She will now help direct the White House task force alongside Kennedy as the administration carries out the women’s health initiative announced in the Rose Garden.
The executive order follows several recent administration changes involving women’s access to menopause treatment. Those steps included removing a black box warning for hormone replacement therapy and examining other treatment questions affecting women.
The administration also convened experts to discuss the benefits of testosterone therapy for women. That discussion was part of the broader series of recent actions involving menopause treatment and women’s access to medical options.
Officials have additionally moved to expand the supply of estrogen patches. Together, the menopause treatment changes, expert discussions, and supply effort provide the immediate backdrop for the new NIH division and White House task force.
The order combines multiple goals without eliminating the existing NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health. Its stated priorities range from finding cures and using artificial intelligence to improving access, affordability, and public conversation around women’s health.
With Melania Trump championing the initiative, the administration is placing the new NIH division and White House task force at the center of its latest women’s health effort. Wiles and Kennedy will lead the task force as the order’s research and access priorities move forward.