Melania Trump Helped Shape a Planned NIH Women’s Health Division
The White House said a planned order would create a women's-health division at NIH and a task force led by Susie Wiles and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The AP report described a planned signing and did not state a funding goal.
The White House said Monday, October 19, that President Donald Trump was set to sign a women’s-health research order that day, according to an Associated Press report. Melania Trump said she helped shape the proposal, which would create a new division at the National Institutes of Health and a White House task force.
What the proposal would set up
The proposed NIH division would focus on women’s-health research. A separate White House task force would be led by Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the White House said.
The administration listed maternal health, mental health and endometriosis among the areas the order would target. It also named Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis, heart disease and stroke. The White House said the initiative followed meetings between Melania Trump and federal health officials.
Melania Trump said she worked on the order and task force with physicians, White House officials, Kennedy and the president. She described the effort as a response to gaps in research and a need to speed the discovery of treatments and cures.
Funding and timing remain open
The AP report said the proposal had no specific funding goals. It did not confirm whether the order was signed on Oct. 19 or state when the new structures would begin operating.