During his March 7 State of the Union address, President Joe Biden emphasized the critical need to address the historical underfunding of women’s health research, despite women making up more than half of the US population. In a historic move that could redefine the landscape of women’s health research, President Biden urged Congress to allocate $12 billion to fund women’s health research and advance the goals of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research. The Initiative, established in November 2023 and spearheaded by First Lady Jill Biden, promises to bridge critical gaps by funding interdisciplinary research and establishing a nationwide network of research centers focused on women’s health. The funding would support efforts to maximize the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, menopause, Alzheimer’s disease, endometriosis, and more.
This groundbreaking effort is supported by a collaborative push from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), which announced its $100 million “Sprint for Women’s Health” in February. The Sprint focuses on funding potentially transformative research and development to address the wide range of diseases predominantly affecting women; awarded funding will support researchers and startups working on these innovative solutions.
The government-wide effort was further expanded and strengthened with the President’s March 18 Executive Order on Advancing Women’s Health Research and Innovation.
The Foundation fully supports these initiatives to integrate and prioritize women’s health research across the federal government. In a recent letter to Dr. Jill Biden, I underscored the potential of focused ultrasound to revolutionize the treatment of a myriad of medical conditions affecting women. From gynecological cancers to Alzheimer’s, chronic pain, and psychiatric disorders, focused ultrasound offers hope for safer, noninvasive treatments for women.
Focused ultrasound has been US Food and Drug Administration–approved to treat uterine fibroids since 2004, and it is in clinical trials for a host of other conditions that solely, uniquely, or disproportionately affect women. Focused ultrasound therapies exemplify the type of innovation that these federal initiatives aim to support. Yet, despite strong clinical evidence for a variety of clinical focused ultrasound treatments, the journey toward widespread acceptance and insurance coverage for ALL patients continues to be a challenge—a testament to the broader challenges and obstacles within women’s health research and innovation. The Foundation’s advocacy for equitable access to focused ultrasound therapy echoes a larger call for transformative investment in the field. Focused ultrasound technology, alongside others, has the potential to alleviate suffering and improve the quality of life for millions of women globally.
New collaborative efforts between the federal government, private sector, and philanthropic organizations would mark a pivotal moment in women’s health research. Prioritizing research on conditions that disproportionately affect women and facilitating the development of innovative treatments like focused ultrasound would create a healthcare revolution and ensure that women worldwide would have access to the best possible healthcare.
Let’s help create a future where every woman has access to the care and treatment she deserves, free from the constraints of underfunding and underrepresentation in research. Focused ultrasound will be part of this historic movement, and the time to act is now.
To learn more about and join the Foundation’s advocacy efforts, contact Jessica Foley, PhD, managing director of Government Affairs.
Learn more about ARPA-H’s “Sprint for Women’s Health”
Learn more about the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research
Jessica Foley, PhD, is the chief scientific officer and the managing director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Program and Government Affairs at the Focused Ultrasound Foundation.