Advancing Women’s Health

Bold Challenges is investing in research and innovation related to women’s health to foster collaboration and center the voices of those directly impacted by women’s health issues. We aim to support U-M researchers committed to achieving better health outcomes for women, address women’s health challenges across the lifespan, build meaningful partnerships between U-M researchers and community partners and position researchers to obtain emerging federal and foundation funding.

This webpage is a resource for U-M researchers to connect with existing centers, institutes and research groups, find potential collaborators interested in this research theme, learn about existing and forecasted external funding opportunities and discover internal funding, support and services to advance research on campus. 

Researchers from across U-M’s three campuses attended a Pollination Event on November 15, 2024 to discuss funding opportunities, brainstorm big ideas and find potential collaborators. Learn more about the U-M Researchers Interested in Women’s Health.

Researchers who attended the Pollination Event are eligible to apply for a Pollination Award. These awards aim to spark new or strengthen existing interdisciplinary collaborations with three months of staff support from Bold Challenges and up to $10,000. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and the application will close on January 31, 2025.

photos of women in a focus group, laboratory and medical office
Apply For a Pollination Award
U-M Led Centers, Institutes and Research Groups
    Open and Forecasted Funding Opportunities

    Following a March 2024 Executive Order on Advancing Women’s Health Research and Innovation, current federal funding commitments include $200M for interdisciplinary research and a 50% increase in SBIR investments through the National Institutes of Health and commitments of up to $500M through the U.S. Department of Defense. An assessment of NIH research on women’s health, anticipated in late 2024 from the National Academy of Medicine, is expected to call for increased funding. Future opportunities are contingent on appropriations and programmatic priorities; however, NIH’s Matchmaker, NSF’s ProSPCT tool, and ARPA-H’s solution summaries can help match projects with agency interests and existing programs.

    As of fall 2024, representative themes span interdisciplinary research; innovative technology and translation to market; AI, data, and modeling; midlife health; maternal health; health disparities; equity; conditions that are specific to women, more prevalent or with greater morbidity in women, and/or differentially expressed or potentially understudied in women; integrative topics, such as aging and social determinants of health (SDOH); inclusion in clinical research; and career advancement.

    For a snapshot of current forecasted opportunities from federal and non-federal sources, view this document curated by OVPR (U-M Password Protected).

    The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released a report on December 5, 2024, with a number of recommendations for improving the NIH’s support of Women’s Health Research (WHR). The recommendations called for increasing NIH investment in WHR, including the creation of a new common fund for trans-NIH funding; for the elevation of NIH’s Office of Research on Women’s Health to institute status; and for the optimization of NIH programs and policies to support Women’s Health Research. The slide deck report release can be accessed at this link. To access further information and supporting materials, visit NASEM’s site

    If you plan to submit a proposal to an external agency, federal or foundation, OVPR has support!

    • The Office of Research Development offers no-cost services to support your proposal submission. Please fill out this form or email the Office of Research Development at RD-Support@umich.edu for more information. 
    • Bold Challenges offers funding and proposal development services for large-scale submissions. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. 

    This page is managed by OVPR Bold Challenges Initiative. Please contact Kathryn Hendrickson at kathendr@umich.edu if you have any questions.