What new executive order did President Trump and Mrs. Trump sign?
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump launched a new division at the National Institutes of Health on Monday, after signing a key executive order.
by Summer Lane | October 19, 2026
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump held a special ceremony at the White House Rose Garden Monday morning, where they both signed an executive order prioritizing women’s health in America.
“Previous generations fought for women’s rights. Our generation will fight to discover the cures that will ensure a woman can live her life in health and to the fullest,” the First Lady said in a statement.
The EO established a White House Women’s Health Task Force and a Women’s Health Division at the National Institutes of Health “to accelerate scientific discoveries to improve women’s health outcomes.”
According to the White House, the First Lady on Monday drew attention to her “Five Pillars of Women’s Health Innovation.”
The five pillars are:
- Direct research toward finding cures that affect women,
- Using super intelligence to enhance insight into female biology and medical discoveries,
- Accelerating the process of promising therapeutics from labs to female patients,
- Ensuring that medical breakthroughs are affordable and accessible to all women,
- Replacing generations of silence with “open conversation, education, and compassion.”
The EO directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the Director of the NIH, Dr. Jayanta Bhattacharya, to establish the new division within the NIH.
“More research is needed in critical aspects of women’s health, including cardiovascular and heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer’s Disease, autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, osteoporosis, mental health, chronic pain, endometriosis, fibroids, polyendocrine metabolic ovary syndrome (PMOS), infertility, maternal health, menopause, neurological disorders, aging, and more,” the White House fact sheet on the EO noted.
In her prepared remarks, Mrs. Trump declared, “Today, we establish a new ambition: transforming hardship and pain into scientific discovery, effective treatments, and lasting cures. We are women. We are resilient, capable, and deserving of lives defined not by the burdens we carry, but by the possibilities before us. Our health should never limit the fullness of our lives.”
