HHS Cuts Funding for NIH-Based Women's Health Initiative Threatening Decades-Long Study

The Women’s Health Initiative regional centers will close by September 2025.

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HHS is defunding the regional research centers that have been conducting a long-term national health study focusing on preventive strategies for women's health since 1991, the largest study investigating women’s health in US history.1 The Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) regional centers will close by September 2025, at the end of the fiscal year, according to an announcement from the NIH-based initiative.

Investigators at the WHI were informed by HHS earlier this week, although formal written notice from HHS is still pending. The initiative has been predominantly funded by the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The WHI Clinical Coordinating Center (CCC) will remain operational until January 2026, after which its funding status is uncertain, jeopardizing the future of a decades-long study that has transformed clinical care for postmenopausal women.

As the news hit the public health community, experts warned of far-reaching consequences for scientific understanding of aging and chronic disease among women.

“The full implications of these funding cuts are still being determined, but these contract terminations will significantly impact ongoing research and data collection—especially the detailed participant health event data collected by [regional center] staff,” the WHI stated. “The loss of this critical data stream would severely limit [the] WHI’s ability to generate new insights into the health of older women, one of the fastest-growing segments of our population.”

If funding for the CCC is also discontinued after January 2026, access to the WHI’s comprehensive data repository and biorepository could be severely curtailed, limiting the potential for future discoveries and stalling progress in women’s health research, including strategies for preventing heart disease, breast and colorectal cancers, and osteoporosis.

Launched in the 1990s, the WHI has been at the forefront of women’s health research, enrolling more than 161,000 women aged 50 to 79 years across 40 clinical centers. Today, more than 42,000 participants, now aged 78 to 108 years, remain actively engaged.

The initiative has influenced clinical practice and public health policy worldwide. One of its most notable achievements—the estrogen plus progestin hormone therapy trial—transformed prescribing patterns, leading to the prevention of an estimated 126,000 breast cancer cases and 76,000 cardiovascular disease cases over a decade, saving more than $35 billion in direct medical costs.

To date, WHI researchers have documented a significant number of health occurrences, including 38,000 cases of cancer; 38,000 cardiovascular events; 70,000 bone fractures; and 95,000 deaths. The statement emphasized that the unique dataset compiled by the WHI has become an invaluable tool for exploring various aspects of health, such as risk factors, early detection, prevention strategies, and the biology of aging.

The WHI’s multidisciplinary structure has facilitated the production of over 2400 peer-reviewed publications and the development of 342 ancillary studies, 30 of which are currently active. This initiative has garnered participation from over 5000 investigators and has fostered collaborations with major consortia, including TOPMed, PAGE, and the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Cohort Consortium. The initiative has also successfully integrated its data with Medicare claims, cancer registries, and national mortality data, amplifying its research potential.

Trending Cuts From the Trump Administration

In early April, employees across HHS were surprised by a massive reduction in force, which laid off more than 10,000 individuals, accounting for nearly one-fourth of the department’s total workforce since the new administration.2 Along with that move, the president issued a mandate to eliminate 35% or $2.6 billion in NIH contracts.3

The mandate has been met with resistance in various forms. NIH employees voiced their concerns in a recent letter to Republican senators,3 and 22 states filed a joint lawsuit against HHS challenging the revocation of the funds, as well as the move to freeze grant approvals from the NIH—the largest public funder of research worldwide.4

NIH Director Jayanta Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, provided public remarks on Monday but failed to address the contract cuts.3

“The funding cuts to the landmark nationwide Women’s Health Initiative trial will deal a devastating blow to the health of all older adults in the US and throughout the world,” JoAnn Manson, MD, MPH, DrPh, a principal investigator of the WHI, and chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, stated in a STAT article.5 “The WHI’s groundbreaking research has not only improved the health of older women, one of the fastest growing segments of the US population, but has also advanced health aging in the overall population.”

References

1. News from the WHI Study. News release. WHI; April 21, 2025. Accessed April 23, 2025. https://www.whi.org/md/news/whi-funding-announcement

2. Grossi G. Robert F. Kennedy Jr faces senate inquiry over deep cuts to HHS impacting FDA, CDC, NIH, CMS. AJMC®. April 2, 2025. Accessed April 23, 2025. https://www.ajmc.com/view/robert-f-kennedy-jr-faces-senate-inquiry-over-deep-cuts-to-hhs-impacting-fda-cdc-nih-cms

3. Wadman M, Kaiser J, Reardon S. NIH guts its first and largest study centered on women. Science.org. April 22, 2025. Accessed April 23, 2025. https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-cancels-its-first-and-largest-study-centered-women

4. Bonavitacola J. 5 Ongoing Lawsuits Against the Trump Administration Regarding Health Care. AJMC. April 11, 2025. Accessed April 23, 2025. https://www.ajmc.com/view/5-ongoing-lawsuits-against-the-trump-administration-regarding-health-care

5. Cooney E. Women's health initiative, known for hormone therapy trials, to lose federal funding. STAT. April 22, 2025. Accessed April 23, 2025. https://www.statnews.com/2025/04/22/womens-health-initiative-hormone-therapy-trials-losing-federal-funding/