Federal agencies launch initiatives to promote women’s health research

Earlier this week, the White House announced a series of actions being undertaken by federal agencies to focus on women’s health.  Both NIH and ARPA-H announced new funding opportunities centered around women’s health, while the White House and other agencies took action without indicating any funding associated with that funding.

ARPA-H’s Sprint for Women’s Health, launched in February 2024, commits $100 million to transformative research and development in women's health. ARPA-H is soliciting ideas for novel, groundbreaking research and development to address women's health and opportunities to accelerate and scale tools, products, and platforms.

NIH is launching an NIH-wide effort to close gaps in women's health research across the lifespan. This effort—initially supported by $200 million from NIH beginning in FY 2025—will “allow NIH to catalyze interdisciplinary research, particularly on issues that cut across the traditional mandates of the institutes and centers at NIH,” according to a White House fact sheet.

NIH is also creating a dedicated one-stop shop for open funding opportunities for women's health research. “This platform will make it easier for researchers and institutions to find and apply for funding without having to wade through each of NIH’s 27 institutes to find funding opportunities,” states the White House fact sheet.

The NIH’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program are committing to further increasing—by 50 percent—its investments in supporting innovators and early-stage small businesses engaged in research and development on women’s health. These programs will solicit new proposals on promising women's health innovation and make evidence-based investments that bridge the gap between the performance of basic science and the commercialization of resulting innovations.