Celebrating 25 Years of Success from the Office of Research on Women's Health at the National Institutes of Health

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am delighted to join with my friend and colleague, the Dean of the Senate women, Senator Barbara Mikulski, in sponsoring this resolution to commemorate the 25th anniversary of NIH's Office of Research on Women's Health. This office has improved and saved the lives of countless women not only in our country but worldwide. It has been a great success.

Our resolution, as Senator Mikulski mentioned, is cosponsored by every single one of the women serving in the Senate today. I always point out that just as the men of the Senate span the ideological spectrum, so do the women of the Senate. But we have come together to endorse this resolution because each and every one of us recognizes the critical, lifesaving work that has been done by this office at NIH.

As the Senator from Maryland has pointed out, this was a collaborative effort among women--including my former colleague, Olympia Snowe--in both the House and the Senate 25 years ago to redress the fact that so many clinical trials that were being conducted by NIH or through NIH funding excluded women. I remember one on heart disease that was called Mr. Fit. Mr. Fit. Not a single woman was included in this groundbreaking study despite the fact that women die of heart disease more than any other disease and despite the fact that women react differently than men do to different therapies, to different drugs.

Our resolution commends the office for its work over the past 25 years to improve and save the lives of women. It recognizes that there remain striking gender differences among many diseases and conditions on which this office should continue to focus. It also encourages the office to continue to focus on ensuring that NIH supports biomedical research that considers gender as a biological variable across the spectrum of research projects that we are doing. And it encourages the Director of the NIH to continue to consult and involve the Office of Research on Women's Health on all matters related to the influence of gender on health, especially those pertaining to the consideration of gender as a biological variable in research with humans.

I am delighted that we have now been able to clear the obstacles to the adoption of this resolution and that it has been approved without dissent. As my colleague has indicated, it is an example of a development that was taken 25 years ago in response to a real problem of women being excluded from clinical trials, from health care research, and we have made a difference with this office. That is why I am proud to join with my friend the senior Senator from Maryland, the Dean of the women of the Senate, in sponsoring this legislation with each of our female colleagues serving the United States as Members of this great body.

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