First Lady Jill Biden sheds light on the vast funding and research disparities in women’s health

CNN
—

First lady Jill Biden hopes for a post-White House future that builds on the work she began during her time in office to shine a light on women’s health, a chronically underfunded and under-researched area – and one that affects half of the population.

At an event at the White House on Wednesday, geneticist Dr. Marlena Fejzo shared her own experiences researching women’s health and said: “We have been able to walk on the moon for decades. Yet women still die from nausea and vomiting during pregnancy,” she said. It affects 70% of all pregnancies and results in an average of 23 days of lost work, costing the U.S. economy about $2.2 billion per year.

Fejzo had suffered severe nausea and vomiting during her own pregnancy and said her doctor told her “that I was exaggerating my symptoms to get 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 no cure or strategy to prevent this.

Wednesday’s event was the first White House conference on the issue, bringing together leaders from the public and private sectors, researchers like Fejzo and activists, and investors to discuss the challenges and progress, and business opportunities for women’s health research in what advocate Maria Shriver called a moment of “seismic transformation.”

“Today we say to women everywhere: We will listen to you and give you the answers you need,” Biden said as she addressed attendees.

The Biden administration has been part of this shift, driving $810 million in investments across federal agencies. It funds projects to develop home tests to diagnose HPV, the human papillomavirus that causes cervical cancer, and preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication. It funds research into the possibility of a therapeutic treatment that could help delay menopause. It’s about funding efforts to better understand how gender affects brain health.

This money is relatively certain to not be repaid by the new Trump administration: some projects have been paid for in full, while others are receiving ongoing funding.

Still, with 40 days until President-elect Donald Trump takes office, President Joe Biden acknowledged the reality that prioritization of the issue may not continue under the next administration.

“The fact is: the health of our mothers and grandmothers, sisters and daughters, friends and colleagues influences not only the well-being of women, but the prosperity of the entire nation. And that is a fact. We have not communicated that to the other team yet,” Biden, the only male speaker at the conference, said in remarks from the East Room.

Officials point to bipartisan support from female senators on Capitol Hill for legislation to advance menopausal care and midlife women’s health — as well as recognition in the private sector that there is a significant untapped market for treatments for conditions such as osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s disease – as evidence that the momentum will continue.

Women who have been at the forefront of the effort explained some of the obstacles they have encountered and underscored the need for innovation: misdiagnoses of perimenopause, ignored symptoms, and lack of access to care.

Dr. Elizabeth Comen, an oncologist who specializes in breast cancer, shared a heartbreaking story of stigma as she described a patient on her deathbed apologizing for her sweating. Peloton trainer Robin Arzon lamented the lack of data on pregnant athletes. And Dr. Lisa Mosconi, director of the Weill Cornell Women’s Brain Initiative, noted that some research has shown there may be a link between Alzheimer’s, menopause and hormone therapy – which could have implications for the millions of American women who use certain hormones, including childbirth Control, per Mosconi.

“We have never been able to directly measure the effects of these therapies in the brain. Never. “That has to change,” said Mosconi.

Jill Biden, who has traveled the country and the world promoting the administration’s efforts on the issue, has indicated that this work will be an important part of how she uses her influence and platform after she leaves the White House.

“My work doesn’t stop in January when Joe and I leave this house. “I will continue to build alliances like the ones that brought us here today, and I will continue to advocate for funding innovative research,” she said.