Jill Biden Announces $500 Million for Women’s Health Research
Jill Biden Announces $500 Million for Women’s Health Research
‘It’s a big deal and it’s about time,’ says first lady.
First Lady Dr. Jill Biden Monday announced that the Department of Defense will commit $500 million to women’s health research as part of the White House’s initiative to increase funding and research for women’s health.
The announcement was made by Dr. Biden at the Clinton Global Initiative event in New York City during a panel discussion led by Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Sec. Hillary Clinton, and joined by Valerie Montgomery Rice, president of Morehouse School of Medicine.
“It’s a big deal and it’s about time,” the first lady said. “So we’re going to get moving on this.”
“It’s a big deal and it’s about time,” the first lady said. “So we’re going to get moving on this.”
With the new investment, the Department will fund research on conditions that affect women uniquely, disproportionately, or differently—such as ovarian cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and musculoskeletal injuries. This commitment is consistent with President Biden’s Executive Order on Advancing Women’s Health Research and Innovation as well as the Department of Defense’s broader efforts to support the health of the women it serves and the medical readiness of the force.
But as the discussion wrapped up, “Hail to the Chief” played, former First Lady Sec. Hillary Clinton walked out, followed by former President Bill Clinton escorting President Joe Biden. The room burst into a standing ovation. Moments later, Bill Clinton paid tribute to President Biden and awarded him the 2024 Clinton Global Citizen Award.
“Joe Biden has led this country with uncommon decency and goodness and grace and never allowed personal tragedy to harden his heart,” President Clinton said, adding that courage and compassion is what has allowed him to advance his stated goal of “restoring the soul of our nation.”
President Biden, in his short remarks, paid tribute to his wife saying, “As a point of personal pride, I think Jill's work on women's health research, and this is Jill's, and this was Jill's movement—that was going to go down as one of our significant programs in our administration.”
President Biden also took a moment to thank Sec. Clinton.
“Hillary, I want to thank you … personally for the way you have helped me, the way you have spoken up for me with such passion,” he said.
The panel discussed the swift progress being made by the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, which was launched less than a year ago with the goal of fundamentally changing how the nation funds and approaches women’s health research. The funds from the Department of Defense will go toward research to be conducted on active military and veteran women. It will focus on why women experience endocrine, hematological and other autoimmune disorders twice as often as men.
Monday’s event follows Dr. Biden’s first appearance at the President’s Cabinet meeting last week, where she expressed gratitude to the agencies for their continued progress and momentum towards that goal.
“Since launching the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research last November, the first lady has put the spotlight on the urgent need to close the gap in how we fund and approach women’s health research,” said Vanessa Valdivia, press secretary to the first lady. “The Biden-Harris Administration has quickly mobilized to make progress in less than a year, and in the months ahead the first lady will continue to push the work of this initiative forward, and build on the incredible momentum and enthusiasm we’ve seen across the public and private sectors.”