Trump Signs Order Creating New NIH Women's Health Division, With Melania at His Side
The Rose Garden ceremony created a dedicated women's health division within the NIH and a new White House task force — with the First Lady taking a rare public role pushing the policy.
President Trump signed an executive order Monday creating a dedicated women's health division within the National Institutes of Health, alongside a new White House Women's Health Task Force, during a Rose Garden ceremony that gave First Lady Melania Trump an unusually prominent policy role.
The order, titled "Advancing Women's Health to Improve Outcomes in All Phases of Life," directs research funding toward conditions that disproportionately affect women, pushes the use of artificial intelligence to speed up medical discoveries, and aims to accelerate and lower the cost of new therapies for women, according to CBS News' account of the signing.
A First Lady Takes the Lead
Trump credited Melania Trump with conceiving the NIH division, and she signed the order alongside him — a largely symbolic gesture, since a First Lady's signature carries no legal weight. "This is a transformative moment for women in America," she said at the ceremony, framing the push as a fight for cures that let women "live healthy lives."
"THIS IS A TRANSFORMATIVE MOMENT FOR WOMEN IN AMERICA."
The announcement comes months after White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles revealed she'd been quietly treated for breast cancer, continuing to work through her diagnosis before announcing in September she was cancer-free. Trump praised Wiles at Monday's event, saying she "cares deeply about improving the health of American women."
White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster said the new task force "will work to close critical research gaps and strengthen care for women across all stages of life." Trump told reporters Americans would soon hear about "incredible things that we're doing" for women's care, without offering specifics on funding levels or a timeline.
The order provides no detail on how much money will flow to the new NIH division or when the task force will issue its first recommendations — leaving the real test of Monday's ceremony for the months ahead, as advocacy groups and medical researchers wait to see whether the new bureaucratic structure translates into actual dollars and new therapies.