Rachel Prusynski, DPT, PhD

If you follow me, you know I strongly support women’s health and greater funding investment in science. So a few thoughts on yesterday’s White House announcement. icymi, Trump unveiled a new women’s health division at NIH as though the federal government had never prioritized this work before. In fact NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health has existed since 1990. His executive order also revokes President Biden’s 2023 women’s health research initiative and his 2024 order advancing it. I was serving in the White House when those efforts began and can say that there was - and remains - an enormous amount to do. Biden called on Congress to invest $12 billion in women’s health research and made concrete funding announcements: in October 2024, ARPA-H announced more than $110 million for 23 teams tackling neglected conditions affecting women. Let’s not forget that this same administration has done incredible damage to the scientific systems over the past year and a half which has included terminating grants supporting women’s health research, including work on uterine fibroids and pregnancy risks. But most notably this announcement comes without specifying any NEW research funding commitment, which is what women’s health so desperately needs. I am absolutely supportive of a spotlight on women’s health but not another rebrand 😭