What Does the Future of Research for the Health of Women Look Like at the National Institutes of Health?

Over the past year, the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) has coordinated the development of anew 5-year plan that will set an updated agenda for expanding research on the health of women. Titled Advancing Science for the Health of Women: The 2019–2023 Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women’s Health Research ,the plan was developed with the support and collaboration of numerous researchers, both internal and external to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as other stakeholders. We undertook this effort with a bold NIH vision in mind. Picture a world in which the biomedical research enterprise thoroughly integrates sex and gender influences; every woman receives evidence-based disease prevention and treatment tailored to her own needs, circumstances, and goals; and women in science careers reach their full potential. Our new strategic plan charts a multipronged pathway toward this vision.

The collective input from these individuals and organizations led to the development of

, which relate to Research, Methods, Dissemination and Implementation, Careers, and Evaluation, as described in detail below. We hope these goals will lead to advances in research that benefit both women and men and to improved personalized medicine for women of all ages and backgrounds. The full strategic plan will be published on the ORWH website in February.

I’m confident that this path forward will inspire and bring together the biomedical research community to continue advancing science for the health of all women. Who knows what exciting medical breakthroughs are yet to be discovered in the next five years? In the meantime, on behalf of ORWH, I hope you will find the following strategic goals insightful and that you will circulate this information among your networks and communities.

I look forward to sharing more information from Advancing Science for the Health of Women: The 2019–2023 Trans-NIH Strategic Plan for Women’s Health Research with you in the coming months.

—Dr. Janine Clayton