Biden admin commits $100M for women’s health research

• Startups focused on women's health get far less funding than other health startups, Axios' Erin Brodwin reports.

Driving the news: The first lady announced the commitment during an ARPA-H forum on women's health in Cambridge.

• ARPA-H will oversee the women's health research as part of its "Sprint for Women's Health."

What they're saying: "We will build a health care system that puts women and their lived experience at its center, where no woman or girl has to hear that, 'oh, it's all in your head," Biden said Wednesday.

Flashback: President Joe Biden announced the White House Initiative on Women's Health Research in November, with Jill Biden at the helm.

• Wednesday's announcement marks the first concrete action coming from the women's health research initiative.

What's next: Startup founders, investors and health advocates gathered with ARPA-H officials after the announcements to discuss various problems affecting women's health.

• The agency's program managers will develop focus areas for the women's health research efforts and solicit ideas for potential solutions, ARPA-H Director Renee Wegrzyn tells Axios.
• That could range from medical treatments and detection tools to new research models or gene-editing technology.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details about ARPA-H's next steps.