It was Women’s Health Week USA in May and Dr. Jenica Patterson, Senior Director of the Women’s Health Network at the Milken Institute, was on a panel in a room of the industry’s innovators when she said it: roughly half of all venture capital currently goes to AI, while only 2% goes to healthcare for the gender that represents 51% of the population.
It’s a statistic that encapsulates one aspect of the challenging arena of women’s healthcare. Funding has not only been lacking but so has awareness of that fact. Other issues run similarly deep. It wasn’t until 1993 that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) required women and minorities to be included in clinical research. And it took twenty-plus more years—until 2016—for the agency to require “sex as a biological variable” to be considered in its research and grant-designing policy. Still today, less than 10% of NIH funding goes to women-focused research despite the gender being affected disproportionately, differently, or uniquely—as in the cases of maternal health or menopause—by conditions.
And yet: There are signs of a golden moment in women’s health emerging. What some say started this period was 2023’s establishment of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research by then-First Lady Jill Biden. A first-of-its-kind program, it directed $1B of government research funding towards women’s health, including more than $100 million to the ARPA-H’s Sprint for Women’s Health, which focused on catalyzing innovation and accelerating commercialization of early-stage technologies, as well as $500 million for female service members’ healthcare via the Department of Defense and more. It also sparked a cultural conversation—which in turn furthered financial and medical progress beyond government walls. Last year the nonprofit Wellcome Leap and Melinda Gates’ Pivotal, a group of organizations dedicated to women’s social progress, announced a $100 million partnership focused on research. They’re far from alone. The women’s health market is also rapidly expanding. It’s projected to reach $66 billion by 2033.
Among the brightest lights when it comes to the current wave of actors is the Milken Institute’s new global Women’s Health Network. Created last year by the nonpartisan nonprofit think tank, it’s focused on solving systemic issues and reducing the siloing of information that can blunt the impact of even the best ideas. It’s also being chaired by Dr. Biden herself, who sees it as a way to continue the work she spearheaded in Washington, but take it worldwide.
Composed of more than 170 member organizations spanning academia to finance, technology to pharma—and including Merck, Microsoft, and the American Heart Association—the Network started off by identifying the field’s top 10 biggest challenges. In addition to severe underfunding, these include gaps in data and clinical research, continued underrepresentation of women in leadership, and cultural stigma surrounding women’s health conditions. To address them, the Network took a multi-pronged approach focused on: funding initiatives, working groups that home in on the biggest issues, and the establishment of a digital platform where members can share expertise. Here, we take a closer look at each:
Funding
The Network’s two main financial initiatives are its Catalytic Philanthropic Fund and its Elevate Investment Initiative. The former will be a $50 million Evergreen Fund—the first fund to be run by the Milken Institute itself—that will provide flexible, lower-cost capital and enable innovators to develop their ideas more boldly and quickly. It will also increase their ability to scale market access. Says Caitlin MacLean, Managing Director of Catalytic Capital at the Milken Institute, “We aren’t expecting a 10x return. We want recipients to use the funds to go into new counties, serve different populations at an affordable price point, and navigate complex regulatory systems” with more ease. Elevate will offer emerging fund managers the opportunity to participate in Milken Institute conferences and events across the globe, and provide increased access to capital via its network of institutional investors, family offices and asset managers.
Working groups
After uncovering the top challenges facing the field, the Network created a series of groups to approach the problems via five areas: funding, regulatory issues, insurance coverage and reimbursement, health access and education, and employer engagement. These groups are focused on both deep research and quick-to-market deliverables. So far—among the white papers, reports, events and panels that have resulted—are this Spring’s “Employers Investing in Women: Advancing Business, Employees and Communities” brief, created in conjunction with the Milken Institute’s Employer Action Exchange. A “Coverage and Reimbursement Roadmap for Women’s Health Innovation” is being released this month. Up next will be a comprehensive guide to how healthcare systems can better meet the needs of women throughout their cancer journey, created in conjunction with the American Cancer Society and publishing later this Fall. More is to come.
Digital platform
The Milken Institute may be best known for its events that help leaders in business, health, and more cross-pollinate ideas and create solutions. When it comes to the Women’s Health Network, the aim is the same—but in addition to annual member meetings, the Network has launched a digital platform which allows for members to access data, resource sharing, and virtual discussion. Patterson describes it as “the connective tissue or the API layer of the Network. It’s really an opportunity for members to exchange knowledge—of all types—further.”
This is only the beginning. Catalytic Philanthropic Fund investments are set to begin in early 2027 (although donors interested in becoming anchor givers are welcomed this year). Elevate’s request-for-application process opened in May. And Biden and Network leadership are slated to continue their meetings with entrepreneurs, researchers, and other healthcare leaders nationwide and globally this Fall.
Patterson hopes that the Network can simply—yet meaningfully—help normalize women’s care as part of health in general. “It’s a great moment, but I think it needs to change into an everyday discussion,” she says. “Women’s health is health, and it relates to better health for everybody.” MacLean adds that the area’s momentum partly derives from health issues being so personal—and women sharing about them in increasing numbers. “Never underestimate the ability for our individual experiences to galvanize action,” she says. “We see that each time we recount getting pregnant through IVF, facing cancer, struggling with endometriosis…The more we open up, the more we break down barriers.”
