By Isabel Lopez, Public Affairs Intern
Innovation in women’s health has historically been underinvested and overlooked in medical research, leaving significant gaps in diagnosis, treatment, and care across the reproductive lifespan. Historically, male-dominated medical research and testing have systematically bypassed women’s health needs. This lack of research and funding has created gaps specifically within reproductive and female specific health. Leaving women’s reproductive and general biology understudied carries severe health and societal consequences, especially in maternal and fetal medicine. At a recent Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) Policy Advisory Council meeting, members were joined by Kate Arnold, MD, MBA, Program Manager at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), to discuss how the agency is driving high-risk, high-reward innovation in women’s health and obstetric care.
Reimagining Women’s Health Through Innovation
ARPA-H was established in 2022 to accelerate transformative health breakthroughs by supporting research projects that may be considered too risky for traditional funding mechanisms – even if they are potentially have great benefit for patients and communities. According to Dr. Arnold, the agency’s goal is not simply to develop new technologies but to fundamentally change how health care is delivered and experienced by patients.
Dr. Arnold described that ARPA-H’s is examining pressing questions that women face throughout their lives to find areas where a large investment can change health care, including:
- Do I have a reproductive health condition? Is my pain normal?
- Will I be able to become pregnant? Is fertility treatment necessary?
- Will my baby and I be healthy and safe during pregnancy and delivery?
- When will I experience menopause?
To address these questions, ARPA-H is exploring how technologies such as biomarker discovery, noninvasive home testing, evidence-based interventions, and fertility innovations can be designed to make reproductive health care more accessible and personalized.
Filling Critical Gaps in Fertility and Reproductive Care
A major theme of the discussion was the need for better tools throughout the fertility journey. While in vitro fertilization (IVF) remains an important option for many patients, Dr. Arnold emphasized the significant gap between trying to conceive and pursuing assisted reproductive technologies. By looking at a women’s reproductive lifespan ranging from menarche through menopause, ARPA-H is looking at the complete picture of what happens between the beginning of trying to conceive and starting IVF, and how they can improve these options for women.
Advancing New Technologies for Maternal Care
One of ARPA-H’s flagship women’s health initiatives is the Making Obstetric Care Smart (MOCS) program.
According to Dr. Arnold, current fetal monitoring technologies often fail to provide clinicians with an accurate understanding of fetal status during labor. This lack of reliable information can contribute to medical intervention. This lack of reliable information can contribute to use of medical interventions that may have been otherwise avoidable, creating uncertainty for both patients and providers in medical decision-making.
The MOCS program seeks to address this challenge by developing technologies capable of delivering more accurate assessments of fetal well-being during childbirth.
ARPA-H identifies the central challenge here as a lack of “ground truth” regarding fetal status during labor. By improving monitoring accuracy, the program aims to support more informed clinical decision-making, reduce unnecessary birth interventions, and ultimately improve maternal and infant outcomes.
To address this challenge, the MOCS initiative is working to fund innovation in two primary technical areas: Risk stratification for fetal hypoxia and fetal monitoring. Risk stratification for fetal hypoxia focuses on identifying fetuses that may already be experiencing oxygen deprivation before labor progresses. Researchers are developing point-of-care diagnostic tests that could be used during triage to assess placental health and identify patients at increased risk for complications.
Fetal monitoring focuses on developing a novel intrapartum fetal monitor capable of continuously and accurately assessing fetal status throughout labor. ARPA-H is looking to fund technology that will allow for:
- Noninvasive, wireless monitoring technologies
- New sensor platforms beyond traditional fetal heart rate monitoring
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to interpret clinical data
- Actionable alerts that help clinicians respond to signs of fetal distress
Rather than simply generating more data, these systems are intended to provide meaningful information for patients, families, and care teams during critical moments of labor and delivery.
Overcoming Barriers to Innovation in Maternal Health
Dr. Arnold noted that labor and delivery technology has remained relatively stagnant for decades. Existing fetal monitoring systems continue to serve as the standard of care despite known limitations in accurately predicting fetal distress.
One explanation for this stagnation is that companies often have little incentive to disrupt established markets, particularly when development costs and regulatory hurdles are high. ARPA-H was created in part to address these innovation gaps by investing in technologies that have the potential to fundamentally reshape health care delivery. By supporting ambitious projects and encouraging collaboration across disciplines, ARPA-H aims to accelerate solutions that might otherwise never reach patients.
Looking Ahead
The MOCS program represents a long-term effort to transform maternal care through data-driven technologies and improved clinical decision making. Program leaders envision a future in which fetal monitoring is more accurate, maternal outcomes improve, and patients have greater confidence in the care they receive during childbirth.
As ARPA-H continues to invest in transformative technologies across the reproductive lifespan, initiatives such as MOCS highlight the potential for innovation to address some of the most persistent challenges in women’s health.
The discussion with Dr. Arnold offered SWHR Policy Advisory Council members a glimpse into how emerging technologies could reshape women’s health care across the lifespan in the coming years. From fertility and reproductive health to labor, delivery, and menopause, ARPA-H is pursuing ambitious solutions designed to address longstanding gaps in care.
SWHR will continue to monitor advancements in women’s health innovation and explore how emerging technologies can improve health outcomes for women across the lifespan.