President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday establishing a dedicated Women's Health Division within the National Institutes of Health and creating a White House task force to coordinate research and policy, crediting first lady Melania Trump with driving the initiative. The order, titled "Advancing Women's Health to Improve Outcomes in All Phases of Life," directs the Department of Health and Human Services to stand up the new division within 90 days, according to the Associated Press.
Melania Trump opened the Rose Garden signing, declaring: "Beginning today, we will change the reality of women's health." A White House official said the new division will not replace the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health, established in 1990, but will have a broader mandate. The task force will be led by Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The order sets no specific funding targets, according to AP and Reuters reporting.
The ceremony also produced a viral moment: after Trump finished signing, he handed his Sharpie to the first lady and remarked that he did not know if her signature meant anything. "Yours is the most important," Melania replied. Trump then looked at her pen stroke and added another line, joking that it looked similar to his. As Yahoo News reported, the exchange drew outsized attention, though authority to issue executive orders rests with the president, not the first lady. The announcement came after Trump rolled back an almost identical women's health project initiated by former President Joe Biden.