Trump signs order creating NIH women’s health division

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in the White House Rose Garden on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, creating a Women’s Health Division at the National Institutes of Health and a White House women’s health task force, with first lady Melania Trump at his side.

The order sets no funding target, so the size of the new effort is unclear. The announcement came about two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, and an October AP-NORC poll found women more likely than men to call health care one of the most important issues in the vote, according to The Associated Press.

The task force will be led by White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., AP reported. It was scheduled to hold its first meeting the same day and is to coordinate with federal agencies and programs.

The order calls for more research across all stages of life, including maternal health, mental health, endometriosis, infertility, fibroids and menopause. It also names Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, osteoporosis and stroke, and promotes diagnostic technology and improved treatments.

“Beginning today we will change the reality of women’s health,” Melania Trump said, adding that the current generation “will fight to discover the cures.” Donald Trump called the action “historic” and said it would “go after the understudied diseases affecting women,” AP reported. He also questioned why such a division did not already exist.

The NIH already has an Office of Research on Women’s Health, which was established in 1990. The White House has said the goal is better coordination of government research, AP reported.

The order rescinds an earlier women’s health research order signed under former president Joe Biden. An initiative led by Jill Biden drew nearly $1 billion in federal funding, including from the Defense Department and NIH, according to the Bidens. The White House said Trump’s approach goes further, citing planned use of artificial intelligence and a government-wide task force rather than an effort led by the first lady.

The move follows earlier Trump administration actions that curtailed diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and AP reported it is unclear whether the two policies conflict. The administration has also made broad cuts to scientific research, including studies focused on women. Last year it announced the Women’s Health Initiative would close early, then reversed course after protests.

AP-NORC polling shows about one-third of women approve of Trump’s handling of the presidency. In a July AP-NORC poll, about two-thirds of women disapproved of his handling of health care.

Wiles, who recently finished breast cancer treatment, co-leads the panel with Kennedy, whose department has been the subject of other court fights, including a March ruling that blocked U.S. child vaccine changes and found he may have violated the law. Earlier this year, a CDC study on COVID-19 vaccine efficacy was withheld, officials said.

What happens next depends on the task force’s first deliverables and on whether Congress or the agencies attach money to the order. None were described Monday.

Via The Associated Press (published by WABE). NBC News also reported on the order.

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