WHAM

Women’s Health Access Matters (WHAM), a nonprofit organization, established in 2020, is dedicated to increasing awareness and accelerating funding for women’s health research to transform women’s lives and the economy. WHAM was created to address the significant funding gap, historical exclusion, and underrepresentation of women in health research.

WHAM collaborates with leading advocates, economists, scientists, research institutions, business leaders, and public health experts to bring new awareness, voices, resources, and partners to drive change. We build the business case for investing in women’s health, funding cutting-edge research that focuses on women, and empowering those working in this underfunded, undervalued space. By channeling resources into innovative health research, WHAM expands the technical toolkit available for addressing a broad range of health challenges and unlocks substantial untapped growth opportunities in diagnostics, treatments, and prevention for women’s health.

INITIAL AREAS OF FOCUS

• Autoimmune Disease
• Brain Health
• Cancer
• Heart Health

The lives of women and men will vastly improve through research that is equally inclusive of women and men in trials – and female and male animals in preliminary research. By conducting research in parity and reporting sex outcomes separately, health breakthroughs will be accelerated, and health outcomes around the world improved – leading to economic returns.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Women’s health research generates greater economic returns on investment – Investing $350 million generates $14 billion to our economy.

Women drive the economy, making up more than 51% of the U.S. population and workforce, responsible for 85% of consumer spending and make over 80% of healthcare decisions. Despite this, women are significantly underrepresented in health research, which leads to substantial economic costs. The WHAM Report, conducted by The RAND Corporation, demonstrates that increasing investment in women’s health research is not only equitable but also economically advantageous. Doubling the existing budget for women’s health research in key areas could generate over $14 billion in economic returns.

WHAM is bringing a new lens to the women’s health gap in medical research, emphasizing the substantial economic benefits of inclusive research. Investing in women’s health is a win-win: it leads to significant economic returns, enhances workforce productivity, and improves health outcomes, thereby reducing costs and driving innovation. By ensuring research includes women and reports sex-specific outcomes, WHAM aims to accelerate health breakthroughs and enhance global health outcomes, directly benefiting the well-being of women and the overall economy.

WHAM INITIATIVES

• The WHAM Report
  • A series of studies that quantify the costs and economic benefits of increasing investments in women’s health research and innovation. The WHAM Report has become a seminal source of data advocating for increased investment.
• The WHAM Investigator’s Fund
  • Provides early-stage research grants to cutting-edge scientists focused on understanding the role of sex-based differences in health outcomes.
• The WHAM Collaboratives
  • The WHAM Research Collaborative
    • A unique network of researchers, clinicians and experts from leading institutions focused on women’s health research who help guide many of the decisions WHAM makes.
  • The WHAM Investment Collaborative
    • A coalition of investment leaders focused on increasing private investment in women’s health companies, spurring innovation in diagnostics, treatments, and prevention for women’s health.
  • The WHAM Innovator’s Circle
    • A group uniting leaders from women’s health-focused funds to catalyze early-stage innovation and forge strategic investment pathways in one of the most overlooked—and high-potential—opportunities in healthcare.
  • The WHAM Life Sciences Collaborative
    • A consortium of leaders committed to advancing the health of women by instituting biological sex considerations throughout the product development lifecycle. 

HOW WHAM IS RESHAPING THE WOMEN’S HEALTH LANDSCAPE

Central to WHAM’s efforts is the 3Not30 Initiative, a multi-year campaign aimed at catalyzing investment in sex-based research and innovations within three years.

• Double the Budget: Double the NIH budget for women’s health research, potentially adding $14 billion to the economy, and double VC investment in women-founded startups.
• Expand Access to Clinical Trials: Improve appropriate trial populations and expand access to clinical trials.
• Mine the Data: Ensure studies analyze and report results by sex and create a WHAM Accountability Index.

Visit whamnow.org and thewhamreport.org to learn more and support accelerating women’s health research and innovation.

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VISIONARY COLLABORATORS

We are very grateful for the support of WHAM’s Lead Collaborator’s. WHAM’s Partners are premiere institutions and organizations who are seen as leaders and pathfinders in each of our four disease areas creating the criteria that will ultimately affect how women’s health research is conducted. WHAM’s leadership of this research project was encouraged through the generous support and collaboration from the following organizations:

WHAM BOARD

WHAM is grateful for the intellectual and financial support of our dedicated board members who have generously funded WHAM since its inception.

WHAM RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE

The WHAM Research Collaborative is a dynamic group of leaders, researchers and clinicians across disciplines who are passionate about women’s health research and the study of sex differences. Women make up more than 50% of the US population and nearly half the workforce, yet women remain underrepresented in medical research, drug research and medical device development – even in diseases that disproportionately affect them. The Research Collaborative helps WHAM prioritize key questions for women’s health research, identify opportunities to invest in cutting-edge research, and make change in the research community to accelerate a greater focus on women’s health.

WHAM INVESTMENT COLLABORATIVE

The WHAM Investment Collaborative is a first-of-its-kind initiative bringing together multibillion-dollar funds to drive transformative change in women’s health. This unprecedented partnership is designed to accelerate innovation and unlock the immense potential of one of healthcare’s most underfunded yet high-impact markets.

WHAM INNOVATOR’S CIRCLE

The WHAM Innovator’s Circle is an initiative uniting leaders from women’s health-focused funds to catalyze early-stage innovation and forge strategic investment pathways in one of the most overlooked—and high-potential—opportunities in healthcare. 

WHAM LIFE SCIENCES COLLABORATIVE

The WHAM Life Sciences Collaborative will bring together leaders in biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors to spearhead innovative solutions and drive systemic change. Through pre-competitive sharing and strategic collaborations, this group will play a crucial role in advancing WHAM’s goals to double federal and private investment in women’s health, expand access to clinical trials, and perform secondary data analysis to reveal sex differences. Collaborative members will also have the opportunity to help shape the WHAM Accountability Indexes, measures of organizational progress on addressing sex through product lifecycles.