First lady Jill Biden shines a light on vast funding and research disparities on women’s health

First lady Jill Biden is looking to a post-White House future building on work she began while in office to shine a light on women’s health, a chronically underfunded and under-researched space – and one impacting half the population.

First lady Jill Biden is looking to a post-White House future building on work she began while in office to shine a light on women’s health, a chronically underfunded and under-researched space – and one impacting half the population. At a White House event Wednesday, geneticist Dr. Marlena Fejzo shared her own experience researching women’s health, saying, “We have been able to walk on the moon for decades. Yet women are still dying from nausea and vomiting of pregnancy,” a condition that, she said, impacts 70% of all pregnancies and leads to an average of 23 days of missed work, costing the US economy roughly $2.2 billion per year. Experiencing severe nausea and vomiting during her own pregnancy, Fejzo said she was told by her doctor “that I was exaggerating my symptoms for attention.” She spent the next two decades researching the cause and recently published her findings linking a specific hormone, GDF15, to the condition, known in its most severe form as hyperemesis gravidarum. Still, there is not a cure or strategy to prevent it. Wednesday’s event marked the White House’s first-ever conference on the subject, bringing together public and private sector leaders, researchers like Fejzo, activists, and investors to discuss the challenges, progress, and business opportunities of women’s health research during what advocate Maria Shriver described as a moment of “seismic transformation.” “Today, we are saying to women everywhere: We hear you, and we will get you the answers you need,” Biden said as she addressed attendees. The Biden administration has been a part of that transformation, driving $810 million in investments across federal government agencies. It’s funding projects to develop at-home tests to diagnose HPV, human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer, as well as preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication. It’s funding research toward the possibility of a therapeutic treatment that could help delay menopause. It’s funding efforts to better understand how gender affects brain health.