Wellcome Leap and Pivotal Commit $100 Million to Women’s Health Research to Deliver Breakthroughs in Years, Not Decades
Wellcome Leap, a U.S. non-profit, and Pivotal, a group of organizations founded by Melinda French Gates, today announced a $100 million partnership to accelerate women’s health research. The joint effort will focus on delivering breakthroughs in women’s health research in areas with some of the highest burdens of morbidity and mortality, such as cardiovascular health, autoimmune disease, and mental health.
Women experience health issues differently, disproportionately, and uniquely—yet funding remains inadequate. Despite living longer, women spend an average of nine years of their lives in poor health, which is 25 percent more compared to men1McKinsey Health Institute, January 17, 2024; Closing the women’s health gap: A $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies. Additionally, only 1 percent of global health research funding was allocated to women’s health conditions beyond cancer in 20201McKinsey Health Institute, January 17, 2024; Closing the women’s health gap: A $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies.
This new funding partnership will support the launch of two new women’s health programs kicking off in 2026, using Leap’s proven model for delivering breakthroughs. This also pushes Leap’s total investment in women’s health to $250 million, putting the organization one step closer to a bold goal of $1 billion in philanthropic capital dedicated to accelerating breakthroughs for under-researched, under-prioritized, and underfunded conditions that disproportionately impact women at every stage of life.
"Women’s health is chronically underfunded, chronically under-researched, and, as a result, not well understood. We need to look at this broken status quo through new eyes and stop tolerating women’s pain and suffering. With Wellcome Leap’s proven model, we expect to see outcomes years—even decades—sooner than we would through other approaches. This is a unique chance for funders and partners to step up and be part of something truly revolutionary. Progress is ours if we’re willing to reach for it, and the results will touch the lives of women all over the world."
With the support of Wellcome Trust and the leadership of CEO Regina E. Dugan, former Director of DARPA, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the first woman to lead the agency, Leap built the first-ever application of DARPA’s model for human health on a global scale.
“We need more breakthroughs, and we need them faster,” said Dugan. “I have seen how ambitious, emotionally invested teams with clear goals can overcome obstacles, collapse timelines, and deliver solutions once thought impossible. Together with Melinda and the team at Pivotal, we share a determination to change the future for women. Because breakthroughs in women’s health are not a matter of chance—they are a matter of choice. And it’s time. Women have waited long enough.”
The Wellcome Leap Breakthrough Model Delivers Results in Years, Not Decades
Leap represents a new model for research—designed to be fast, agile, and networked across disciplines, organizations, and countries. Its expert-designed, milestone-driven, three-year programs are built to tackle urgent health challenges. This proven approach to generating breakthroughs is modeled on DARPA, which has arguably the longest standing track record of radical breakthroughs in human history—including the internet, miniaturized GPS, lasers, and stealth technology. In five years, Wellcome Leap has launched 12 programs spanning 30 countries, powered by a growing network of more than 160 institutions, nonprofits, and companies—representing millions of researchers across six continents.
To date, Leap has invested $150 million in three programs designed to improve health outcomes at every stage of a woman’s life, including advances in:
- Maternal care focused on cutting the rate of stillbirths in half
- Reducing a woman’s lifetime risk of Alzheimer’s by 50 percent
- Shrinking the average time to diagnose and treat heavy menstrual bleeding from five years to five months
Leap’s approach is already translating into tangible progress. In the stillbirth prevention program, global research teams were mobilized in under 100 days. Among the emerging results is evidence that a maternal blood test could predict conditions that can lead to stillbirth—including fetal growth restriction, gestational diabetes, and pre-eclampsia—with greater than 80 percent accuracy, as early as 12 weeks. This early insight could equip clinicians and community health workers with powerful new tools to prevent stillbirth.
Closing the women’s health gap is both a moral and an economic imperative, with the potential to add more than $1 trillion to the global economy annually by 20401McKinsey Health Institute, January 17, 2024; Closing the women’s health gap: A $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies. Real impact will require a global coalition of funders willing to commit resources at the scale the challenge demands.
Philanthropic leaders and organizations committed to bold, transformative change will be essential to advancing women’s health worldwide. To explore a leadership partnership, contact womenshealthresearch@wellcomeleap.org.
Watch the announcement on LinkedIn here.
About Pivotal
Founded by Melinda French Gates in 2015, Pivotal is a group of organizations that work to accelerate the pace of social progress and expand women’s power and influence in the U.S. and around the world. Through high-impact investments, philanthropy, partnerships, and advocacy, Pivotal seeks to remove the barriers that hold women—and all people—back. Pivotal includes Pivotal Ventures, LLC and Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, a 501(c)(3) private foundation launched in 2022.
About Wellcome Leap
Wellcome Leap is a billion-dollar breakthrough engine for human health – at global scale. Founded by the Wellcome Trust in 2020 as a U.S. nonprofit, Wellcome Leap builds and executes bold, unconventional programs with the urgency required to deliver breakthroughs in years, not decades. Operating at the intersection of life sciences and engineering, Leap programs require best-in-class, multi-disciplinary, global teams assembled from universities, companies, and nonprofits working together to solve problems that they cannot solve alone. For more information, read how Wellcome Leap is Changing the Business of Breakthroughs and visit www.wellcomeleap.org. Contact: press@wellcomeleap.org.
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