White House Directs HHS to Use AI for Advancing Women’s Health Research

President Joe Biden has recently issued an executive order instructing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to explore the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in advancing research on women's health. 

This directive aligns with their ongoing efforts to implement the administration's existing executive order on AI. 

It specifically addresses the challenges surrounding the responsible deployment and utilization of AI and AI-enabled technologies within the health and human services sector, aiming to enhance women's health research.

“My Administration seeks to fundamentally change how we approach and fund women’s health research in the United States.  That is why I established the first-ever White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research (Initiative) — which is within the Office of the First Lady and includes a wide array of executive departments and agencies (agencies) and White House offices — to accelerate research that will provide the tools we need to prevent, diagnose, and treat conditions that affect women uniquely, disproportionately, or differently,” Biden said.

Commenting on the same, Wendy Nilsen, Deputy Division Director for NSF’s Information and Intelligent Systems division said that NSF investments in AI research could advance women’s health issues, from cardiovascular disease to menopause-related conditions.

Nilsen also told the media that AI could help tackle current gaps in women's research, facilitate the analysis of extensive datasets, unravel the connections between intricate biological and environmental factors influencing women's health, and lay the groundwork for revolutionary discoveries that will influence the trajectory of women's health in the future.

The executive order additionally mandates the building upon the research and data standards established by the NIH in 2016. 

Members of the initiative within agencies are directed to contemplate measures aimed at developing or reinforcing research and data standards to improve the examination of women's health across all pertinent federally funded research endeavors and other federal funding opportunities.