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television providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. next, president biden and first lady jill biden talk about the importance of research into women's health within the event in the east room. part of the first-ever conference on the advancing women health research which was a collaboration between the biden administration and the milken institute economic think tank based in santa monica california ♪ dr. biden: you're so quiet. in the intermission we're all like dancing and everything, fete a little movement. you've been sitting for a while. thank you for standing. but you know, i'm glad you get a little, like you said, a little

movement. that's what it's all about. please sit down. please. if you feel all stretched out by now. before i begin i want to say i'm so glad you got to come here sobe quiet. it is like a classroom. [cheering and applause] in the intermission, were you all dancing and everything. get a little movement. you have been sitting for a while. thank you for standing. a little movement. that is what it is all about. please sit down. please. if you feel all stretched out by now. before i begin i just want to say that i'm so glad that you got to come here today because the white house is decorated. [cheering and applause] the theme this year is peace and light. so i hope that you all feel that

sense of, you know, peace and light and that just for a moment when you leave here today that you feel, i don't know, a sense of joy. i think that we all need this, you know, we all need to feel joy now during this time of the season, just during this time hat conversation to the white house. [applause] today we are saying to women everywhere, we hear you. and we will for decades, for centuries, at dinner tables, waiting rooms, whisperedni conversations, whene meet our friends for coffee, women have been talking to each other about our health. today, we brought that conversation to the white house. y loses $1.8 billion in working

time every year to menopause symptoms that upend women's lives. that's what maria shriver and i talked about on that saturday afternoon in april last year. so maria keeps this quote next to her phone. in her office. it says, why go to the moon? and your uncle, president kennedy, asked, we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do other things not because they are easy, because they are hard. so maria, thank you for carrying on that mission, pushing for break throughs that are never easy, but possible. thank you.

[applause] so a little more than a year ago, president biden launched the first ever white house initiative on women's health research. building on the foundation of decades of work in women's health from many of you in this room. and carolyn made sure yesterday as we were doing speech prep that i understood, she said, jill, you know, i know that we're doing this now but there are some women like carolyn who has been doing this research forever and ever and ever. i just want to say, we recognize that. [applause] so you heard from carolyn, you know, our incredible, and our incredible team here at the white house. who ensured government-funded research will include women from

the beginning. and that means designing studies and separating the data, which everyone has said, and reporting findings to create treatments specifically for women, and for men. i mean we're not going to leave you guys out. and we've invested nearly $1 billion in this research on women's health. [applause] so over this past year, i traveled around the country. and i have met honestly some really incredible researchers. and i've been to universities and the new york stock exchange, to bring people together and create connections across industries. and the women of this country are paying attention. researchers and business leaders are too. so we brought all of you into

this room to elevate all this information. discoveries that will change how we treat menopause symptoms. we talked about this all this morning. research that uses genetics to find the cause of extreme morning sickness. and i heard this a couple of weeks ago, i was particularly interested because my own granddaughter was going through the same thing. because we're going to be great grandparents. [applause] so funders and founders who are seeing the market for women's health products triple, making sure that women know that solutions are at our fingertips if we just keep fighting for them. together we laid down a new line, a marker, of our progress

toward closing the gaps in women's health. everything that you've heard today and hasn't it been like so informative and fascinating? i mean, i love these forums. i always learn something new. i just -- it's so inspiring. because this is our new normal. and today isn't the finish line. it's the starting point. we, all of us, we have built the momentum. now it's up to us to make it unstoppable. it has been the hop nor of my life to serve as your first lady and to join you in this work. but my work doesn't stop in january when joe and i leave this house. i will keep building alliances like the ones that brought us here today. and i will keep pushing for funding for innovative research.

[applause] so join me. be the researcher who makes sure that each proposal you work on considers women from the beginning. be the investor who searches for the next breckthrough through product -- breakthrough product or treatment. be the voice in every space from boardrooms to classrooms to laboratories, who asks what are we doing to advance women's health? let's make a promise to all those women out there right now, sitting in a parking lot somewhere, after a doctor's appointment, wondering why you're not being heard. to maybe feeling, you know, like you're all alone. i'll just have to stop here for one second.

i dead hear in -- i did hear during that little intermission thing, like we are not putting our doctors down, right. some doctor in the back said, you know, it sounds like you are putting the docs down. we are not putting the docs down. i don't want you to feel that way. but i think the doctors are joining us and saying, hey, we want dancers. so i just want to make that 100% clear. so the white house, all of us here, we will keep fighting for you until your worries turn into answers, your symptoms into solutions. until women everywhere benefit from the life-saving and world changing research that we know it is possible. a new future can ring out from this conference. one that answers the call from women who have been waiting for too long.

let this be the moment that we push harder, the moment that people say change the world of women's health forever. thank you. [applause] jill biden: [laughs] thank you. [cheers and applause] thank you. thank you very much. please. so, i am so grateful to have a president who -- [laughs] -- who heard us,, and take action quickly. so without joe, -- who heard us, and took action quickly. without joe really, this , wouldn't have been made possible. and that's the power of someone who understands how to make things happen in government. because god knows, joe, you have

been here for what, 50 years? [laughter] someone who has fundamentally shifted how our nation approaches women's health research. so please welcome my husband, your president and champion, i think all of us, of all of us, my husband, jill biden. come on. [cheers and applause] -- my husband, joe biden. come on. [cheers and applause] pres. biden: thank you. [cheers and applause] pres. biden: thank god she said yes the fifth time i asked her to marry me. [laughter] please have a seat. as they used to say in the senate, a point of personal privilege, no man deserves one

great love, let alone two. when i was introduced to jill, my younger brother, my youngest brother said you will love her. she hates politics. [laughter] hello, everyone. my name is joe biden. i'm jill biden's husband. let's be honest, we wouldn't be here today without jill. across our administration and across congress, across the country, the work we are doing on women's health research is some of the most important work this administration has ever done. and i have always believed that our nation is at its best when we plumb the endless possibilities that exist for all our women and girls that includes their health. women are half of our population, to state the obvious. but like jill said, for too long, they have been underrepresented when it comes to health research and that's real. that is why over a year ago we launched the first ever white house initiative on women's health research. and the goal was to fundamentally change and improve how we approach and invest in women's health research. we weren't doing enough of it.

and to pioneer the next generation of scientific research and discoveries that are going to improve care for women received all across the country. because of the fact of the health of our moms and grandmothers, sisters and daughters, affects not just women's well-being, but the prosperity of the entire nation. that's a fact that we hadn't gotten through to the other team yet. [laughter] i mean, it across the board -- anyway, i will not get into that. [laughter] that's why my state of the union address this year called on congress to invest $12 billion in women's health research to -- [applause] -- benefit and families and communities all across america . folks, my administration wasn't going to wait for congress to secure the funding. we looked for other ways to prioritize women's health with existing dollars that are already in the government, and to get important work started.

i knew where to start. rosa dolores. [cheers and applause] i am not joking. you all think i'm kidding. i am not kidding. she is incredible. every important thing i have ever tried to get done, you were there for me. this is silly. you are the best. what she did on the child tax credit -- i mean, across the board through the women's health is something that matters so very much. she will keep these efforts going when we leave. when jill and i leave. we are no longer going to be president and first lady, but we are not going away. [laughs] [laughter] [cheers and applause] along with other members here like diane -- where is diane? stand up, let me see you.

[applause] laura. thank you. so i am so proud that today we have secured a billion dollars in women's health research from different government agencies. our new agency, arpa-h, which is partner after d.a.r.p.a., which of the defense department program for advanced research projects agency for health that has driven breakthroughs in everything from the internet to gps. it had a big budget for doing everything else, but it also had a specific individual budget and , are part eight producing what darpa does for technology. diving breakthroughs to prevent detect and treat diseases including cancer, alzheimer's, diabetes and so much more. we are using the funding to drive breakthroughs in women's

health in ovarian cancer, menopause, migraines, high blood pressure for pregnant women. the national institute of health is using their funding to break down the silos. a lot of silos in government, a lot of silos across america to make more progress and do it more quickly. for example, we know that heart disease is the leading cause of death for women. that we don't know, we don't know enough about how menopause may affect heart disease and that's going to change. we are going to learn so much more. the department of defense is dedicating funds to research women's health issues like arthritis, cancer, chronic fatigue that affects women in the military. but this research is going to benefit all women. our work does not stop here. the addition -- in addition to launching women's health research initiative earlier this year, i signed an executive order directing the most comprehensive set of executive actions ever taken in the history of this country, to improve women's health issues. [applause]

it ensures that women's health is integrated and prioritize all across the entire federal government. all research projects and budget plans, across the entire government, and explores new research and innovation in a wide range of women's health needs throughout their lives. and it does so much more. folks, there has literally never been a more comprehensive effort from the federal government to spur innovation in women's health research in our entire history. and thank you, by the way, kiddo. [laughter] [applause] if i can digress for a moment, i have been the beneficiary of a lot of the research that have been done. i had two cranial aneurysms. i had 29-hour operations. they took the top of my head off twice. they couldn't find my brain the

first time. [laughter] all kidding aside, the research is going on across the entire world. i visited every single solitary major health center in the world, in the world. seven of them. then what happens even in not just women's research, but doctors are great. they walk by the mirror and they see a pulitzer prize or nobel prize, rather than sharing the data. but that is all changing. this initiative laid the groundwork for discoveries and research for generations to come. mark my words. and the benefits we gain tomorrow will happen because we made the decision to do something about them today. all of you in this room are leading the way, and that is not hyperbole. you really are. it's a hell of a combination of people to make things change. let me close with this. and my daughter ashley is sitting here, she runs of women's health shop -- women's health center -- shelter in

philadelphia. and this holiday season is a time not for gratitude, but for reflection. gratitude is important but we have to reflect on what is going on. let me say to you, it has been the honor of my life to serve as your president for the last four years. i am forever grateful [applause] . i really am. folks, it's not a joke. we are blessed to live in america. we are blessed to live in america. i have been to over 140 countries. but for the grace of god, it -- i could have been bored and a lot of other places. literally the greatest country on earth. but we have got to raise up even more than we are now. i often say america can be summed up in one word. i was on the tibetan plateau with xi jinping. and he said, can you define america for me? this is on the record. i said yes, one word -- "possibilities."

think about it. we are the only nation in the world -- there is arrogance in that, but we have never failed to get things done when we set a mind to it. it is all possibilities. anything's possible. that's what the women's health research initiative is all about, possibilities. and that is what this conference is all about. that is what you all about. researchers, innovators, investors, businesses advocates, elected officials, public, private, and nonprofit leaders unleashing the drive and discovery and the talent and imagination that you have in this room. a spirit of innovation inherent in who you guys are. i mean it. think about it. try to look at the people to your left and right who are engaging in this. it is all about the possibilities and the belief that we can change things fundamentally. i think inherent in the american conscience is setting a bold vision and taking concrete steps to make our dreams a reality. holding onto one more thing that

we can never lose --. hope, hope, hope, permit because we need to raise the expectations of the american people up, let them know we haven't forgotten. whether it is business or labor or politics, we haven't forgotten. you guys go out there and you take care of these folks. how many think we have forgotten them? why are we focused? because of you and your fearless determination, we are making real progress. really making progress. here is still so much more to do. it will take all of us to get it done. i know it's a battle, but i know i have a hell of an army here. when i look around at all of you here today, i mean this sincerely, i know that it is a battle we are going to win. we just have to remember who we are. we are the united states of america and there is nothing we

have ever set our mind to and been unable to do it when we have dinner together. it's not beyond our capacity when we work together. that is what you all are doing. so i want to close by thanking my wife, jill. like i said, when we got married, my brother said, don't worry, she doesn't like politics. but i tell you what, you stepped up, kid. >> [laughter] and in case you wonder, when she speaks, i listen. [laughter] [applause] thank you all very much. let's get this done. thanks. >> distinguished guests please , remain in your seats as the president and the first lady depart. ♪ [applause] ♪