For too long, research and funding priorities have overlooked women's health, leading to a failure to address conditions that affect women uniquely, disproportionately, or differently. Women make up half the population, yet less than 10% of the NIH budget goes to conditions that primarily affect women.
We cannot afford to ignore women's health any longer. According to the World Economic Forum, eliminating the gender data gap will trigger a $1T return on investment. Whether driven by moral imperative or economic reality, investing in women's health is essential.
The field remains severely underfunded and understudied across biomedicine. This knowledge gap is especially stark in neuroscience, where less than 0.5% of brain imaging articles focus on female-specific experiences (Jacobs Nature 2023). Basic research into how the brain responds to menopause, pregnancy, the menstrual cycle, and hormone-based medications is still in its infancy.
The embrace of Big Data by astrophysics and genomics spurred major discoveries in those fields. Neuroscience is poised to follow suit. Population neuroimaging efforts are yielding valuable insights into the human brain, but few of these initiatives were designed with women's health in mind.
Through their transformative investment in women's health, Ann S. Bowers and the Bowers family have made possible a University of California–wide brain imaging consortium to accelerate discoveries in women's health.
In addition, strategic partnerships with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Wellcome Leap, and the National Institutes of Health launched moonshot projects zeroing in on two major health inflection points: pregnancy and menopause.
Advancing women's brain health will require sustained efforts across sectors.
The WBHI provides a path forward.
Ann S. Bowers
Cornell Class of ‘59
English & Psychology
In 1990, Ann and the Noyce family created the Noyce Foundation in honor of her late husband, Dr. Robert N. Noyce, co-founder of Intel and inventor of the integrated circuit. His creation fueled the personal computer revolution and gave Silicon Valley its name. Ann and Robert were passionate activists and philanthropists, committed to bolstering education and training opportunities for the next generation. We are indebted to Ann and the Bowers family for their transformative investment in the Women's Brain Health Initiative and women's health.