WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order alongside first lady Melania Trump on Monday creating a task force and a National Institutes of Health division focused on women’s health, the White House said. The task force will be led by Trump’s White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who recently announced that she is cancer-free, and U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a White House official said. The new Women’s Health Division at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will not replace the agency’s Office of Research on Women’s Health but will have a broader mandate beyond research. “President Donald J. Trump & First Lady Melania Trump sign an executive order creating a Women’s Health Division at the NIH & a White House Women’s Health Task Force, aiming to close research gaps & modernize care for women,” a post on X announcing the signing said. Representatives for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the NIH, could not be immediately reached for comment. The order was first reported by USA Today. In planned remarks at the event, Melania Trump is expected to address the need for using artificial intelligence to speed women’s health discoveries as well as access and affordability of care, the official said. Trump and his administration have pushed for healthcare cuts, including at NIH, and last year moved to downsize the federal healthcare workforce. During Trump’s second term, his administration sought to cut NIH grants for research on diversity-related topics and reportedly is moving to allow political appointees to control health-research funding. It also launched a controversial safety review of the abortion pill, mifepristone, that could pave the way for restrictions. Major medical groups have criticized the move as politically motivated while anti-abortion groups argue the review is moving too slowly. Earlier this month, U.S. officials told a court the review would be completed by March. U.S. health officials also removed a longstanding safety warning from many hormone replacement therapy products, tightening supplies and leading to shortages, and have urged more manufacturers to study testosterone therapies for women that could support future approvals of female-specific products. HHS has also targeted family planning funds, announcing earlier this year that for the first time it would require applicants for Title X funding to align their programs with Trump’s political priorities, prompting legal action. (Reporting by Susan Heavey and Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot)
