U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison Calls on Trump-Vance Administration to Restore Critical Information on Women’s Health Research

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Representative Kelly Morrison (MN-03) joined Representatives Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (FL-20), Judy Chu (CA-28), and Ayana Pressley (MA-07) in urging National Institutes of Health (NIH) Acting Director Matthew Memoli to restore the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) website to its full operating capacity. At the direction of the Trump-Vance Administration, the NIH has drastically removed information and guidance off of the website for the Office of Research on Women’s Health – the only office within the federal government fully dedicated to women’s health
 

“This is yet another effort from the Trump-Vance Administration to undermine women’s health,” said Congresswoman Morrison. “Women’s health research is already underfunded and under-studied, and cutting access to information only makes it worse. We are calling for these critical resources to be restored and for women’s health research initiatives to be bolstered.”
 

Full text of the letter copied below and available HERE.
 

Dear Acting Director Memoli,
 

We are deeply concerned with the recent elimination of information and guidance on the National Institute of Health's (NIH) Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) website. ORWH is the only office within the federal government fully dedicated to women’s health. The decision to decimate the ORWH not only undermines the mission of the NIH, but it also puts women in danger.
 

Pages removed from the ORWH’s website include information on women and minorities in clinical trials, funding opportunities for women’s health research, and the NIH Working Group on Women in Biomedical Careers, among other critical information. Currently, the ORWH’s website only contains links to its Menopause & Midlife Health page, Office of Autoimmune Disease Research page, career support page, and links to two advisory committee landing pages. This is entirely insufficient.
 

These actions come after the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released a congressionally mandated report in December 2024, highlighting gaps in NIH’s women’s health research. The report ultimately concluded that “breakthroughs to improve women’s health have lagged across the research enterprise,” necessitating an additional $16 billion in appropriations over the next five years to bridge these divides. Efforts to undermine the critical work of ORWH will only exacerbate existing inequities outlined in NASEM’s report and put women at risk.
 

It is vital that the NIH provides accurate and reliable information on the unique health needs of women and ensures their representation in research especially, given that women make up more than half of the entire U.S. population.
 

We demand the NIH restore ORWH’s website to its full capacity and functionality immediately. Furthermore, we urge the NIH to continue conducting, funding, and publishing studies on women’s health, so we better protect and serve the women of this country.
 

We look forward to the website being restored and working together on ways to maintain and strengthen women’s health initiatives at the NIH.