PROVIDENCE, RI – In an effort to reduce stigma and boost research into a key area of women’s health that has been traditionally underfunded by Congress, U.S. Senator Jack Reed is urging passage of the Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women’s Health Act (S.4246).  This bipartisan legislation seeks to boost menopause research, training, and education and would, for the first time, coordinate the federal government’s existing programs related to menopause and mid-life women’s health. 

Menopause is a natural process in a woman’s life that involves a significant hormone shift women go through in middle age, marking the end of menstrual cycles.

Despite the fact that half the population in the U.S. will eventually experience menopause, menopause research has long been underinvested in and overlooked.  To date, there are few federally funded clinical trials on menopause and menopausal hormone therapy and very little menopause education for doctors—only 31.3 percent of U.S. residency programs offer a formal menopause curriculum according to a survey conducted by The Menopause Society, and 80 percent of OB-GYN residents believed more menopause educational resources were needed in their program.

Today, Senator Reed joined Dr. Renee Eger, MD, director of the Midlife Center at Women & Infants Hospital and medical director of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Care Center at Women & Infants Hospital and Providence Community Health Centers president and CEO Merrill Thomas and Stephanie Avila, Certified Nurse Midwife for PCHC, Title X Clinical Program Coordinator, and other health experts to discuss efforts to increase federal research on menopause, and create a national public health awareness, education, and outreach program on menopause and mid-life women’s health.

Senator Reed says it essential to have comprehensive research and data to develop effective policy to address the economic, social, and health impacts of menopause and perimenopause - which precedes it.

Specifically, the Advancing Menopause and Mid-Life Women’s Health Act seeks to authorize $275 million over five years to strengthen and expand federal research on menopause, health care workforce training, awareness and education efforts, and public health promotion and prevention to better address menopause and mid-life women’s health issues. The federal funds would be set aside for clinical trials, public health, and medical research on menopause, as well as support for menopause detection and diagnosis and public outreach.

“Menopause is a normal, natural life transition that has a major impact on women’s lives.  We need to talk about and stop the stigma. This legislation targets federal research dollars in a strategic way to improve women’s mid-life health.  Investing in menopause research will boost public health and can lead to the discovery of new treatments.  Importantly, this bill also expands training programs for health professionals,” said Senator Reed.  “For too long, menopause has been a stigmatized and overlooked issue.  This is a condition that happens to all women in mid-life, but federal research dollars have been severely lacking.  We need to change that by investing and changing the conversation to help more women lead healthier lives.”

According to the women’s health advocacy nonprofit Let’s Talk Menopause, approximately 75 million women are in perimenopause, menopause, or post-menopause right now in the U.S.—with 6,000 more women reaching menopause each day.

Dr. Eger stated: “You don’t think about menopause until you are IN menopause, or your mother, your wife, your sister, or your best friend is. It is wonderful to think that our government is financially acknowledging this. Thank you Senator Reed and the co-sponsors of this bill for making this a priority for all of our country.”

“At Providence Community Health Centers, our patients face disproportionately greater challenges -- they are poorer, sicker, and encounter significant barriers to receiving the care they need compared to the state's average,” said Stephanie Avila, Certified Nurse Midwife and Title X Clinical Program Coordinator at Providence Community Health Centers. “Given the cardiovascular, bone density, brain health and mood implications, we have before us an opportunity to create broad, comprehensive health improvements by advancing research and training in this area. It is short sighted to see menopause as only a ‘GYN’ issue. This is an issue of much needed healthcare.”

In March, the Biden-Harris Administration issued an Executive Order creating the White House Women’s Health Research Initiative to better address the long-standing gap of women’s issues in medical research.  It includes a call for greater investment in women’s mid-life and menopause research. 

The first $500 million of that commitment was made last month, with the U.S. Department of Defense investing half a billion dollars to research medical issues that disproportionately affect women in military service and improve care for female service members, veterans, spouses, dependents and family caregivers.

The Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women’s Health Act was introduced by U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.  In addition to Murray and Reed, the bipartisan bill is also cosponsored by U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Tina Smith (D-MN), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO).