— Madonna pleading for the return of these iconic pieces she wore at Coachella. It’s like a little prayer.
Health
About That Women's Health Research Funding...
What's going on: When the Trump administration told NIH staff last year not to approve grants with the word “women,” analysts warned it would devastate research on women’s health. A new analysis by The Washington Post found that’s exactly what happened. It showed there has been a 31% drop in funded projects that include the word. We’re only halfway through the fiscal year, but the number of competitive NIH grants is also down by more than half compared to this time last year — affecting cancer and mental health research, too. The findings come as the administration recently virtue-signaled an interest in women’s health at a conference in Washington. But the proof is in the paperwork.
What it means: The trend underscores a broader problem: Women have long been overlooked in scientific research. And despite the boom in FemTech, these growing research gaps aren’t likely to be filled by the private sector, even as some startups are trying. If studies become even more privatized and profit-driven, chronic conditions that affect millions of women — like endometriosis and PMDD — risk getting sidelined in favor of more marketable areas, like menopause. In other words, these funding cuts could set women’s health research back even further, making it harder to understand our bodies and get the care we need. Maybe host a conference on that…
