Philanthropist Melinda French Gates announced a groundbreaking $100 million partnership to accelerate women’s health research, targeting some of the most underfunded areas of medical science that disproportionately affect women.
The partnership between Pivotal, a group of organizations founded by French Gates, and Wellcome Leap, a nonprofit organization, will focus on areas of women’s health with the highest rates of mortality, including autoimmune disease, mental health, and cardiovascular health. French Gates made the announcement during an interview with Good Morning America and at the 2025 Forbes Power Women’s Summit.
The funding comes from equal $50 million donations from both organizations and will support two new women’s health programs launching in 2026. Wellcome Leap, led by Regina Dugan, the first woman to lead the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), will oversee the research using an accelerated model designed to deliver results in years rather than decades.
French Gates emphasized the urgent need for this investment, stating that women currently spend an average of nine years of their lives in poor health, which is 25 percent more compared to men. Despite women living longer than men, they face significant gaps in healthcare research and treatment options.
The initiative addresses several critical disparities in women’s healthcare. Cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death for women worldwide, is still often misdiagnosed when the patient is a woman. Women account for 80 percent of patients with autoimmune diseases, yet treatments are rarely designed with them in mind. Additionally, two-thirds of Alzheimer’s patients are women, and researchers still cannot explain why.
This announcement represents a significant escalation in French Gates’ commitment to women’s health. Since stepping down from the Gates Foundation in 2024, she has pledged over $1 billion to support organizations advancing women’s rights and health. In October 2024, she announced a $250 million open call to fund organizations working to improve women’s mental and physical health.
The partnership with Wellcome Leap brings their total investment in women’s health to $250 million, moving the organization closer to its ambitious goal of dedicating $1 billion in philanthropic capital to accelerating breakthroughs for conditions that disproportionately impact women.
The economic implications are substantial. Closing the women’s health gap has the potential to add more than $1 trillion to the global economy annually by 2040. French Gates noted that businesses also benefit when women can bring their full creativity and energy to work, rather than being sidelined by chronic health issues that remain poorly understood and inadequately treated.