IV 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 458 
Celebrating 25 years of success from the Office of Research on Women’s 
Health at the National Institutes of Health. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 1, 2015 
Mrs. NOEM (for herself, Ms. MATSUI, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Ms. FRANKEL 
of Florida, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. MICHELLE 
LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Ms. JENKINS of Kansas, Ms. SPEIER, 
Mrs. MIMI WALTERS of California, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. JUDY CHU 
of California, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Ms. CLARK of Mas-
sachusetts, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mrs. LOWEY, Ms. 
BONAMICI, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Ms. EDDIE BER-
NICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. TITUS, Mrs. TORRES, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, 
Miss RICE of New York, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. ADAMS, Mrs. LUMMIS, 
Ms. MOORE, Ms. ESHOO, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. HAHN, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. 
MENG, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mrs. ELLMERS of North Carolina, Mrs. 
BUSTOS, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. ROYBAL- 
ALLARD, Ms. BROWNLEY of California, Ms. NORTON, Ms. EDWARDS, Ms. 
BORDALLO, Ms. STEFANIK, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. DEGETTE, Mrs. DINGELL, 
Ms. TSONGAS, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. KUSTER, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mrs. 
WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. PINGREE, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. BROWN 
of Florida, Ms. DELBENE, Ms. ESTY, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of 
New York, Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Ms. GRAHAM, 
Ms. LEE, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. 
DUCKWORTH, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California, Ms. LOF-
GREN, Mrs. COMSTOCK, Ms. GABBARD, Mrs. BLACK, Ms. MCSALLY, Ms. 
FOXX, Mrs. ROBY, Mrs. WAGNER, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, and Ms. 
PLASKETT) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
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•HRES 458 IH 
RESOLUTION 
Celebrating 25 years of success from the Office of Research 
on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health. 
Whereas, on September 10, 1990, the Office of Research on 
Women’s Health (in this resolution referred to as 
‘‘ORWH’’) was established at the National Institutes of 
Health (in this resolution referred to as ‘‘NIH’’) to— 
(1) ensure that women were included in NIH-funded 
clinical research; 
(2) set research priorities to address gaps in sci-
entific knowledge; and 
(3) promote biomedical research careers for women; 
Whereas ORWH was established in law by the National Insti-
tutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993 (Public Law 
103–43; 107 Stat. 122) and implemented the law requir-
ing researchers to include women in NIH-funded tests of 
new drugs and other clinical trials; 
Whereas today, more than 1⁄2 of the participants in NIH- 
funded clinical trials are women, enabling the develop-
ment of clinical approaches to prevention, diagnosis, or 
treatment appropriate for women; 
Whereas in 2015, ORWH, with enthusiastic support from 
NIH leadership, announced that, beginning in January 
2016, NIH-funded scientists must account for the pos-
sible role of sex as a biological variable in vertebrate ani-
mal and human studies; 
Whereas ORWH, along with NIH leadership, enhances 
awareness of the need to adhere to principles of rigor and 
transparency, including the need to publish sex-specific 
results to inform the treatment of women, men, boys, and 
girls; 
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•HRES 458 IH 
Whereas over the past 25 years, ORWH has helped expand 
research on women’s health beyond its roots in reproduc-
tive health to include— 
(1) the study of the health of women across the life-
spans of women; and 
(2) biomedical and behavioral research from cells to 
selves; 
Whereas by studying both sexes, ORWH is leading the sci-
entific community to make discoveries headed toward 
treatments that are more personalized for both women 
and men; 
Whereas today, ORWH communicates through programs and 
policies that sex and gender affect health, wellness, and 
how diseases progress; 
Whereas turning discovery into health for all, the NIH motto, 
means studying both females and males across the bio-
medical research continuum; 
Whereas the ORWH Specialized Centers of Research on Sex 
Differences program supports established scientists who 
do basic, clinical, and translational research with a sex 
and gender focus; 
Whereas all NIH Institutes and Centers fund and encourage 
scientists at universities across the Nation to conduct re-
search on the health of women and on sex and gender in-
fluences; 
Whereas over the past 25 years, ORWH has established sev-
eral career-enhancement initiatives for women in biomedi-
cine, including the Building Interdisciplinary Research 
Careers in Women’s Health program that connects junior 
faculty with mentors who share interests in women’s 
health research; 
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•HRES 458 IH 
Whereas ORWH co-directs the NIH Working Group on 
Women in Biomedical Careers, which develops and evalu-
ates policies to promote the recruitment, retention, and 
sustained advancement of women scientists; 
Whereas the Women’s Health Initiative (in this resolution re-
ferred to as ‘‘WHI’’) marked the first long-term study of 
its kind and resulted in a wealth of information so that 
women and their physicians can make more informed de-
cisions regarding postmenopausal hormone therapy; 
Whereas WHI reduced the incidence of breast cancer by 
10,000 to 15,000 cases per year, and the overall health 
care savings far exceeded the WHI investment; 
Whereas ORWH supported the National Cancer Institute’s 
development of a vaccine that prevents the transmission 
of Human Papilloma Virus, resulting in a decrease in the 
number of cases of cervical cancer; 
Whereas in 1994, ORWH co-sponsored with the National In-
stitute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases a landmark 
study, the results of which showed that giving the drug 
AZT to HIV-infected women with little or no prior 
antiretroviral therapy reduced the risk of mother-to-child 
transmission of HIV by 2⁄3; 
Whereas according to the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC), perinatal HIV infections in the 
United States have dropped by more than 90 percent; 
Whereas ORWH co-funded a large clinical study of the ge-
netic and environmental risk factors for ischemic stroke, 
which identified a strong relationship between the num-
ber of cigarettes smoked per day and the probability of 
ischemic stroke in young women, prompting the targeting 
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•HRES 458 IH 
of smoking as a preventable and modifiable risk factor 
for cerebrovascular disease in young women; and 
Whereas over the past 25 years, ORWH has contributed sup-
port toward major advances in knowledge about the ge-
netic risk for breast cancer, and discovery of the BRCA1 
and BRCA2 genetic risk markers has enabled better-in-
formed genetic counseling and treatment for members of 
families that carry mutant alleles: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) commends the ORWH for its work over the 
past 25 years to improve and save the lives of 
women worldwide and must remain intact for this 
and future generations; 
(2) recognizes that there remain striking sex 
and gender differences among many diseases and 
conditions on which the ORWH should continue to 
focus; 
(3) encourages the ORWH to continue to focus 
on ensuring that the NIH supports biomedical re-
search that considers sex as a biological variable 
across the research spectrum; and 
(4) encourages the Director of the NIH to con-
tinue to consult and involve the ORWH on all mat-
ters related to the influence of sex and gender on 
health, especially those pertaining to the consider-
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•HRES 458 IH 
ation of sex as a biological variable in research with 
vertebrate animals and humans. 
Æ 
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