Dr. Laronda delivers a statement to NASEM on Women's Health Research

Assessment of NIH Research on Women's Health

"The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) will convene an ad hoc committee with specific scientific, ethical, regulatory, and policy expertise to develop a framework for addressing the persistent gaps that remain in the knowledge of women's health research across all NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs). Specifically, the study should be designed to analyze the proportion of research that the NIH funds on conditions that are female-specific and/or more common amongst women or that differently impact women (e.g., different pathophysiology or course of disease), establish how these conditions are defined and ensure that it captures conditions across the lifespan, evaluates sex differences and racial health disparities. Ultimately, the study should determine the appropriate level of funding that is needed to address gaps in women's health research at NIH.

The NASEM consensus committee, as a first step, will conduct an analysis and develop a matrix of identified NIH research on conditions that are female-specific, more common amongst women or that differently impact women; investigating sex differences; and centered on the unique health needs of women.

The committee will make recommendations for the following:

Research priorities for NIH-supported research on women’s health
NIH training and education efforts to build, support, and maintain a robust women’s health research workforce
NIH structure (extra- and intra-mural), systems, review processes to optimize women’s health research
NIH-wide workforce to effectively solicit, review and support women’s health research
Defining women’s health in today’s social and cultural climate
Allocation of funding such that NIH women’s health funding is reflective of the burdens of disease among women.