WHAM was created in response to the considerable funding gap, historical exclusion, and underrepresentation of women in health research.
Women have been an understudied species since 1993. Many inequities and biases still exist. While some progress has been made since 1993, when the National Institutes of Health mandated that women and minorities be included in any government-funded health research, there’s still a long way to go. And it wasn’t until 2016 that female mice were mandated by NIH to be included in clinical research.
How is it possible that 52% of the population has been left so far behind in medical research?
In 2020, WHAM was founded by Carolee Lee, who convened a group of businesswomen motivated to create an innovative dialogue and establish data that could impact this situation. And how could we continue to make decisions based on information that excludes half of our workforce, 2/3 of our wealth holders, nearly all of our spenders, and those who make majority of healthcare decisions?
It became apparent to us that we lacked evidence; we lacked data about the economic costs, benefits, and social impacts of attention to sex and gender in health research. And in our experience, change starts with data. In order to create change, we commissioned the RAND Corporation in January 2020 to begin a rigorous, focused study to quantify the costs and socioeconomic benefits of increased research funding focused on women.
WHAM, Women’s Health Access Matters, was registered as a 501c3 in January 2021 to catalyze accelerated research and investment in women’s health research.
WHAM is focused on creating four platforms of expertise:
The WHAM Report
A series of studies that quantify the costs and economic benefits of increasing investments in women’s health research. Our intention was to build the business case for funding research focused on women by asking, “what are the economic impacts of increasing investment in women’s health research.”
The WHAM Investigator’s Fund
Providing early-stage research grants to cutting-edge scientists focused on understanding the role of sex and gender in women’s health outcomes.
The WHAM Research Collaborative
Brings together and empowers researchers, clinicians, and luminaries from leading institutions focused on women’s health research who help guide many of the decisions WHAM makes and are all working to advance sex and gender-based research.
The WHAM Investment Collaborative
Bringing together global investment leaders from VC, corporate VC, family offices, endowments, foundations, and government, similar to the WHAM Research Collaborative, to be the industry leading catalyst enabling us to achieve, and surpass, our goal to double VC investment for women.
WHAM is committed to making an impact in diseases and conditions that exclusively, differently, or disproportionately affect women.
WHAM started with a focus on four primary disease verticals:
Autoimmune Disease
Brain Health
Cancer
Heart Health
WHAM is bringing new awareness, voices, resources, and partners to drive change by working with leading, economists, scientists, research institutions, business leaders, and public health experts.
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 gender outcomes separately, health breakthroughs will be accelerated, and health outcomes around the world improved.
As women benefit from this research and reduce their burden of disease, they will improve their own wellbeing, which is directly connected to the wellbeing of our economy.
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Donate to Women's Health Research
Women are 51% of the population but receive only a fraction of biomedical research funding. Sex differences are still often ignored, even in diseases that hit women hardest. Advancing sex-based research closes that gap, sparks innovation, and delivers more precise care for everyone. Support the future of health—for women, and for all.
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Donate to Autoimmune Disease Research
Four out of five Americans with autoimmune disease are women—40 million lives impacted—yet the science hasn’t kept up. In 2019, only 7 % of the NIH’s rheumatoid arthritis budget focused on women. Dedicated funding can pinpoint why women are so vulnerable and drive better diagnostics, therapies, and quality of life. Fuel research that will change lives.
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Donate to Brain Health Research
Women make up two-thirds of Alzheimer’s cases and are twice as likely to suffer depression—yet we still don’t know why. Targeted, sex-specific studies can reveal the biological and clinical differences that unlock earlier diagnosis, smarter treatments, and healthier minds. Your gift drives that discovery.
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Donate to Cancer Research
Most cancer studies still default to male models, overlooking critical sex differences in how cancers start, spread, and respond to therapy. Lung cancer now kills more women than breast, ovarian, and cervical cancers combined, and rates are soaring among young, non-smoking women. Boosting sex-based cancer research will reveal why—and lead to breakthroughs in screening, care, and survival. Help us accelerate that work.
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Donate to Heart Health Research
Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, but it remains underfunded, under-researched, and underdiagnosed. Nearly half of women over 20 have cardiovascular disease, pregnancy heart risks are widespread, and women are 50% more likely to die after a heart attack. Focused research can rewrite those odds—changing how heart disease is detected, treated, and prevented in women. Invest in saving women’s hearts.
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