Trump orders NIH women’s-health division within 90 days

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on October 19 establishing a White House Women’s Health Task Force and directing the National Institutes of Health to establish a Women’s Health Division within 90 days. The division is to be placed within an NIH institute or center, but the order does not identify which one. Trump signed the order at the White House in Washington, D.C.

The order assigns the work to the secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the NIH director. The division’s establishment is a future deadline, not a confirmation that it has been staffed or begun operating. Implementation is subject to applicable law and available appropriations.

Division’s assignments overlap with existing NIH work i

The order directs the division to coordinate and advance women’s-health research, support the inclusion of women and girls in clinical trials, develop accountability for NIH grant recipients under the agency’s policy on sex as a biological variable, and help translate research into clinical practice and public-health implementation.

The division is to coordinate with NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health, or ORWH. NIH says ORWH was established in 1990, and Congress affirmed it in statute in 1993. Some assignments in the order overlap with ORWH’s existing responsibilities, including research coordination, women’s inclusion in research and attention to sex as a biological variable. The order assigns the division these functions alongside ORWH; it does not say the new division will replace the office.

The order describes grant-recipient accountability as a responsibility for the division but does not specify a particular enforcement mechanism. It also does not state a specific budget for the division. It directs HHS to fund the task force’s administrative costs, while making implementation subject to available appropriations.

Task force coordinates federal work i

The task force is co-chaired by the HHS secretary and the White House chief of staff, with officials from multiple federal agencies listed as members. Its assignments include coordination across agencies and work on women’s-health policy, research, prevention, treatment and care. The co-chairs may hold public events and receive outside input.

The task force and NIH division have distinct organizational roles under the order: the task force is assigned interagency coordination, while the division’s specified functions sit within NIH. The order does not set a separate completion deadline for the task force’s broader coordination work.

The order also revokes Executive Order 14120, dated March 18, 2024, and a presidential memorandum dated November 13, 2023, both concerning women’s-health research. It states that it creates no enforceable private right or benefit.

Women and girls are the intended beneficiaries of the research and care improvements described in the order. It does not promise particular research results or immediate changes in treatment; the division’s assigned work and any practical effects depend on implementation.