In the face of increasingly poor poll numbers for President Joe Biden's 2024 re-election effort, he and his campaign are leaning heavily on First Lady Jill Biden as a top surrogate tasked with shoring up the president's base of voter support.

The latest effort in that regard involves the president placing the first lady in charge of a new White House initiative focused on women's health that quite clearly panders to one of the sole remaining voting blocs, women voters, that Democrats can still rely upon as dependable supporters, according to an Associated Press report.

Jill Biden, in conjunction with the White House Gender Policy Council, will lead an effort that aims to bolster more scientific research into various health issues and medical concerns that women commonly face.

Women's health research

According to a "fact sheet" from President Biden's White House, "Women have been understudied and underrepresented in health research for far too long," and that "drastically underfunded" aspect of health science has resulted in "significant research gaps, with serious consequences for the health of women across the country."

In order to address the issue, the president has now established the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research which will be led by the first lady along with the White House Gender Policy Council and be chaired and coordinated by Dr. Carolyn Mazure, a leading figure in the field of women's health research.

"Every woman I know has a story about leaving her doctor’s office with more questions than answers. Not because our doctors are withholding information, but because there’s just not enough research yet on how to best manage and treat even common women’s health conditions," Jill Biden said in a statement. "In 2023, that is unacceptable."

"Our new White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research will help change that by identifying bold solutions to uncover the answers that every woman and her family deserves," she added. "We also are calling on congressional leaders, the private sector, research institutions, and philanthropy to join us in taking urgent action to improve the health and lives of women throughout the nation."

Jill said Joe "listened" and "took action" when alerted to the issue

Jill Biden participated in a press call ahead of the unveiling of the new initiative and shared how the issue of insufficient women's health research had been brought to her attention earlier this year by former California first lady Maria Shriver, and said, "I’ve worked on women’s health since 1993 when I created the Biden Breast Health Initiative, so what Maria was sharing immediately resonated."

"Research on women’s health has been underfunded for decades, and many conditions that mostly or only affect women, or affect women differently, have received little to no attention," she continued. "Because of these gaps, we know far too little about how to manage and treat conditions like endometriosis, and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. These gaps are even greater for communities that have historically been excluded from research -- including women of color and women with disabilities."

Biden added, "When I brought this issue to my husband, Joe, a few months ago, he listened. And then he took action. This is what he does -- he learns about a problem and then he gets to work tackling it. He doesn’t waste any time."

Jill thanks Joe for signing memo to establish new women's health initiative

The First Lady on Monday also took part in a ceremony in the Oval Office in which President Biden signed a presidential memorandum to formally launch the new White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, which will be centered in the Office of the First Lady and include members representing all of the various executive departments and agencies even tangentially related to women's health issues.

That group, which is intended to only serve in an advisory role, was tasked with identifying areas within the realm of women's health where more funding and research are needed and was given 45 days to submit a report to the president with recommendations.

Jill Biden delivered brief remarks at that Oval Office signing ceremony and thanked both Shriver and Dr. Mazure, among others, for their contributions and participation in the new initiative.

"And, you know, Maria, after you came a couple of months ago and then I spoke to Joe and -- I have to say one of the things that I love most about Joe is, you know, you take something to him and he listens. And he did listen to us, and that’s -- and it’s resulted in this memorandum," she said. "So, thank you, Joe. I really appreciate this."