Trump signs order creating NIH women's health division and task force, STAT News reports

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday, 19 October 2026, according to STAT News, which reported that first lady Melania Trump announced the initiative. A White House social media post cited by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) said the president and the first lady signed it together. The order creates a Women's Health Division at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a White House Women's Health Task Force.

Reuters, citing a White House official, and SCMP, citing the White House, described the signing in advance. The reports reviewed by Vocemundi do not include the text of the order, and they are not fully independent of one another. STAT News adds its own reporting.

The new division

The division will not replace the NIH's existing Office of Research on Women's Health, according to SCMP and STAT News. SCMP reported that it will have a broader mandate beyond research. STAT News reported that it is to be set up within 90 days.

An NIH spokesperson told STAT on background that the division, working with the existing office, would expand and coordinate research on understudied women's health conditions across all stages of life. The spokesperson said it would also improve diagnosis and treatment, strengthen the inclusion of women and girls in clinical trials, and increase accountability for considering sex as a biological variable in NIH-funded research.

STAT News said details about the new division were not disclosed. The reports do not explain how its work will be divided in practice from that of the existing office.

The task force

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles will lead the task force, according to SCMP and STAT News. SCMP reported that she recently announced she is cancer-free. STAT News reported that she recently completed a round of breast cancer treatment.

According to STAT News, members include cabinet secretaries such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Pete Hegseth, acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas, and Erica Schwartz, the newly confirmed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. STAT News reported that the order says the Department of Health and Human Services will pay the task force's administrative costs. The first session was set for Monday. The reports do not confirm whether it took place.

Context

STAT News reported that earlier in the second Trump administration, use of the word "women" in grants triggered special reviews at the NIH. According to STAT News, scientists said their women's health research had been in jeopardy because it was caught up in actions targeting "gender ideology".

What is disputed

SCMP, citing a White House official, reported that Wiles and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will lead the task force. STAT News lists Kennedy as a member.

What each side says

STAT News quoted Melania Trump as saying: "Beginning today, we will change the reality of women's health." According to STAT News, she said the division aims to streamline research, advance diagnostics and improve treatment.

STAT News quoted President Trump as saying that "many diseases and conditions that disproportionately affect women remain chronically understudied." He said he was surprised the NIH had no such division.

Basmah Safdar, director of Women's Health Research at Yale, wrote in a Lancet commentary published on 17 August that chronic underinvestment in women's health calls for new funding structures, according to STAT News.

Analysis

The order places women's health under a dedicated NIH unit and a high-level White House body. This may raise its profile across agencies. Much depends on details about the division that, according to STAT News, were not disclosed. It is also unclear how the division will work alongside the existing Office of Research on Women's Health. If funding is added, the division could support the new funding structures that some researchers have called for. Without added funding, it could mainly reorganise existing work. The reported earlier grant reviews may affect how researchers view the initiative. The order's text and implementation over the next 90 days will help clarify its scope.

Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.