As a part of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, First Lady Jill Biden delivered remarks at the Women’s Health Health Lab event, where she highlighted how the Biden-Harris administration is fundamentally changing how our nation approaches and funds women’s health research. A first-of-its-kind summit devoted to the wide range of health issues impacting women, the Women’s Health Health Lab went deep on topics including bone health, healthy skin, heart health, menopause, maternal health, sports and fitness, and more. In addition to remarks from special guest First Lady Jill Biden, the program featured speakers including CEO of the American Heart Association Nancy Brown; founder & president of Every Mother Counts Christy Turlington Burns; actor Kristin Chenoweth; author, advocate, and Vice Chair of Clinton Foundation Chelsea Clinton; actor Julianna Margulies; Peloton instructor Tunde Oyeneyin; NY Gotham FC soccer player Midge Purce; and more, in conversation with top editors from Women’s Health, the largest wellness media brand for women, as well as other Hearst Magazines brands Cosmopolitan, Oprah Daily, and Prevention. Event panels also featured leading experts and doctors from event partner and sponsor Northwell Health's Katz Institute for Women's Health. The event took place at Hearst Tower in New York City. Introduced to the audience by Women’s Health editor-in-chief Liz Plosser, the First Lady opened her remarks: "Liz, you lead with vision – and that’s what today is all about. So many women’s – and men’s – lives are filled with more knowledge, which is power, and joy because of this work."The First Lady’s remarks touched on meeting with Maria Shriver and the importance of funding women’s health: "It was late April last year. Earlier that morning, I’d read in the New York Times that our country loses $1.8 billion in working time every year to the menopause symptoms that upend women’s lives. It struck me – I’d experienced those kinds of symptoms too, so had many of my friends, but, I thought, that’s the way life is, isn’t it? And then, that afternoon, Maria Shriver, the former First Lady of California, came in for a meeting. She wanted to talk about women’s health. She told me that it’s not just menopause symptoms that don’t have enough treatment options. It’s all of women’s health – for our whole bodies, for our whole lives. It’s a problem that’s so simple – yet often ignored: women’s health is understudied and research is underfunded. As a result, too many of our medications, treatments, health products, and medical school textbooks are based on men. This has created gaps in our understanding of conditions that mostly affect women, only affect women, or affect women and men differently, leaving women seeking health care in a medical world largely designed for men. Women’s health is about understanding those conditions. And the discoveries we make will give us insight into all of human biology and experience. It was one of those moments that happen in life, where you learn something and you can never see the world the same way again. Suddenly, the problem felt so familiar – because we all know it."The First Lady shared why President Biden is fundamentally changing how our nation approaches and funds women’s health research: “Women spend more years of their lives in ‘poor health’ than men. Time spent negotiating health conditions for which we need to find more answers. Time away from loved ones, time not spent following their dreams, or pursuing their careers. We can change this. We can give hours and days and years back to women, and to the families who love them. Making it so women don’t have to leave their careers because of treatable conditions. And it could add a trillion dollars annually to the world economy by 2040. We have to invest in women’s health. We can’t afford not to.”The remarks as prepared for delivery by First Lady Jill Biden at the 2024 Women’s Health Health Lab are available here.Women's Health is owned by Hearst, which owns and operates this television station.