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VA has been committed to improving the health of women Veterans through research for decades. In 2006, VA published its first research agenda on women’s health, which outlined priorities in the areas of mental health, chronic pain, and quality of services, among others. Since then, women’s health research at VA has grown significantly, aligning with the record numbers in which women are entering the military and accordingly needing tailored health and healthcare services upon return to civilian status.
In early 2024, VA Office of Research and Development (ORD) established the Women’s Health Research Integration Workgroup (RIG) to coordinate VA women’s health research across ORD. The goal of the RIG is to accelerate women Veterans’ research by bringing together scientific disciplines – including biomedical, clinical, rehabilitation, genomic, data science, and health systems research – to facilitate translation and implementation of evidence to improve the health and healthcare of women Veterans.
Members of the Women’s Health RIG include ORD Scientific Program Managers from across the scientific disciplines, ORD data scientists, clinical and health system leaders from multiple VA National Program Offices such as the Office of Women’s Health and Office of Mental Health, and VA women’s health field investigators, including from VA’s Women’s Health Research Network (WHRN). The RIG holds regularly monthly meetings to discuss and address issues pertinent to improving women Veteran’s health research.
The WHRN is a national resource that has been funded by VA Health Systems Research since 2010. The goal of the WHRN is to build and support VA’s capacity to effectively and efficiently assess and improve the health and health care of women Veterans. Several best practices and resources from WHRN have been incorporated into the ORD-wide work of the RIG. If you are interested in connecting with WHRN and becoming part of VA’s Women’s Health research community, you may register here.
As of September 1, 2024, VA ORD – with key input from the Women’s Health RIG – established its first Women’s Health and Healthcare Notice of Special Interest (NOSI). The NOSI identifies women’s health research priorities based on evidence gaps and needs of VA clinical and operational health systems leaders as well as women Veterans. It calls for applications across ORD research portfolios and award mechanisms (e.g., career development, pilot projects, and merit awards). VA investigators interested in applying to the Women’s Health NOSI may access it on the VA intranet at vaww.research.va.gov/funding/docs/other/NOT-RD-01-WMH-Womens-Health-other.pdf (copy and paste URL into your browser if you have VA network access).