From overlooked to overperforming: How re-centering women’s health can transform not just outcomes, but entire economies

• Women’s health is not a niche concern—it's a national imperative.
• Diseases like Alzheimer’s, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disease affect women disproportionately—yet remain underfunded and underrepresented in trials.
• The outdated definition of “women’s health” as purely reproductive excludes 95% of the picture.

Why This Matters Now

• Women’s health has long been treated as a side issue—until now.
• With the aging population, rising chronic disease burden, and gendered data gaps, the urgency is undeniable.
• The cost of exclusion is being felt across care systems, workforces, and national GDPs.

The Health Gap is a Data Gap

• Only 12% of NIH-funded research focuses exclusively on women
• Diseases that disproportionately affect women are under-researched, misdiagnosed, or misrepresented.
• This results in higher morbidity, later diagnoses, and missed innovation opportunities.
• In oncology research, women are significantly under-represented in leadership which impacts how the research hypothesis gets framed and how the final result gets executed
• Inclusion of under-represented women especially those who are older and of colour remains critically low despite intense advocacy efforts

Economic Case for Change

• $350M invested in women’s health → $14B return to the economy
• Chronic disease in women leads to:
  • Workplace absenteeism
  • Caregiver burden
  • Long-term Medicaid/Medicare dependency
• Investing in prevention, early detection, and gender-informed treatment reduces national healthcare costs and increases workforce productivity.
• Early intervention, gender informed care and prevention can significantly lower healthcare costs and make healthcare more affordable for women.

What WHAM Is Doing Differently

• Combining data-backed science with business case clarity.
• The WHAM Research Collaborative drives scientific inquiry.
• The WHAM Investment Collaborative aligns funders, policymakers, and innovators toward measurable outcomes

From Question to Action:

Is it ethical? Is it empirical? Yes. But it’s also economic, urgent, and overdue.

• Rethinking women’s health is no longer a side effort—it’s a frontline economic strategy.
• We must:
  • Redefine women’s health beyond reproduction
  • Demand accountability in funding
  • Prioritize inclusive data and sex-specific science
  • Incentivize public-private partnerships grounded in real-world ROI