Trump launches women’s health initiative at National Institutes of Health

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump sign an executive order in the Rose Garden of the White House on Monday.Chip Somodevilla / GettyShareAdd NBC News to GoogleOct. 19, 2026, 12:51 PM EDT / Source: ReutersBy ReutersPresident 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 task force will be led by Trump’s White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who recently announced that she is cancer-free, and health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a White House official said.

The new Women’s Health Division at 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 remarks at the event, Melania Trump addressed the need for using artificial intelligence to speed women’s health discoveries as well as access and affordability of care.

Trump and his administration have pushed for healthcare cuts, including at NIH, and last year moved to downsize the federal healthcare workforce.

US 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.

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