First Lady Melania Trump called the presidential action a “transformative moment” for women’s health in the United States.
Published October 19, 2026
President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a dedicated women’s health division within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and also created a White House task force to focus on the issue.
At a signing ceremony in Washington on Monday, First Lady Melania Trump praised the initiative as setting “a new standard for women’s health in America.”
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“This is a transformative moment for American women. Starting today, we will change the reality of women’s health,” she said.
“Previous generations fought for women’s rights. Our generation will fight to discover treatments that allow women to be healthy and live their lives to the fullest.”
A newly designed project led by the first lady calls for establishing a new health department within 90 days.
It aims to accelerate scientific discovery, expand clinical access to women’s health, and modernize care at every stage of women’s lives.
The new NIH division will not replace the agency’s Office of Women’s Health Research, but will have a broader mission beyond research, the White House said.
Melania Trump cited “superintelligence, advanced biotechnology, and breakthrough treatments” as tools that offer a “unique opportunity to reinvent women’s health care.”
The First Lady’s Office has identified “five pillars” for innovation in this area. One is funding targeted research to develop treatments for diseases that affect women, such as endometriosis.
The other calls for a faster timeline for “promising treatments” to reach female patients.
Melania Trump said, “In 2026, medical advances will not just extend lifespans.” “It must give women the freedom to live life to the fullest, follow their dreams, experience love, discover, create, travel and lead.”
The White House task force is co-chaired by Susie Wiles, the president’s newly cancer-free chief of staff, and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Monday’s executive order requires HHS to fund the task force’s operating expenses, but the order itself does not include specific funding targets or amounts.
Experts say Melania Trump kept a relatively low profile during President Trump’s second term.
Although he appears in public less often than during President Trump’s first term, he has stepped up to the plate to promote the role of technology, including improving child care facilities and artificial intelligence in education.
During President Trump’s first term, the first lady launched the “Be Best” campaign, which focused on child welfare, safe social media, and fighting opioid abuse.
But critics question how effective Monday’s executive order will be, given that President Trump has been cutting the federal workforce since his second term in office.
Thousands of employees have been laid off at the NIH alone, and Kaiser Health News reports that NIH staffing is at its lowest level in decades.
The NIH was also given a deadline to cut spending by 35% across all departments, amounting to a massive $2.6 billion in budget cuts.
In April 2025, HHS abruptly moved to terminate regional contracts for the Women’s Health Initiative, the nation’s largest longitudinal study of older women’s health at the time, prompting widespread condemnation and lawsuits in multiple states.
Critics warned that the move would jeopardize life-saving research into cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporotic fractures in older women.
