\u201cToday we have the opportunity to add up to a decade of healthy years to the life of every woman that you love,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cThe science is clear: Hormone therapy is safe and effective. And it is hugely beneficial to the vast majority of women.\u201d<\/p>\n
Less clear that day were the financial benefits the new policy could bring Jackson, according to disclosure records obtained by ProPublica.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jackson is the founder and former chief executive of Evernow<\/a>, an online platform that connects women with medical experts who treat the symptoms of menopause. Although she left for federal service last year, she kept at least $115,000 in Evernow stock and an unknown amount of stock options, records show<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those are just part of a multimillion-dollar portfolio Jackson holds with her husband, a venture capitalist, that poses potential conflicts of interest with her work overseeing the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, known as ARPA-H.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear what role, if any, Jackson played in dropping the black box warning, the most serious type of federal safety warning that is reserved for drugs with severe side effects or life-threatening risks. A different agency, the Food and Drug Administration, regulates drugs, and its panel of experts had recommended an end to the warning requirement months before Jackson arrived in government.<\/p>\n But ethics experts called Jackson\u2019s official endorsement of the warning removal \u201calarming\u201d and an \u201cobvious conflict of interest,\u201d noting federal law prohibits government employees from participating \u201cpersonally and substantially\u201d in matters that could influence their personal finances \u2014 even making statements at a press conference or in a news release, as she also did<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should care because her company is apparently intending to profit off this change in policy that she endorsed as a government official while still retaining a financial interest in the company,\u201d said Virginia Canter, who served as an ethics lawyer at the White House, Treasury Department and Securities and Exchange Commission during the presidencies of George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.<\/p>\n \u201cI say it puts her within the zone of a potential violation,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Months after the announced end to the warning notices, Evernow launched a nationwide expansion<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under federal law, agency officials like Jackson are required to submit financial disclosure forms, which must then be certified as complying with ethics laws. But Jackson\u2019s two financial disclosures \u2014 filed last October and two months ago \u2014 remain uncertified. Canter said it is not unusual for an agency\u2019s ethics office to ask the inspector general to investigate if staff cannot certify that an individual\u2019s disclosure forms meet ethics standards.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Over two months, ProPublica sought comment from Jackson and submitted questions about her work, investments and ethics records. Jackson did not respond, and HHS never addressed our detailed questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n But in a statement to ProPublica last week, an agency spokesperson said Jackson has been placed on administrative leave and HHS would \u201cassess the facts before determining any change in her status. HHS requires all officials to comply with federal ethics laws, regulations, and policies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n HHS declined to answer additional questions about the reasons for Jackson\u2019s leave, the decision\u2019s timing or whether the inspector general was investigating.\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier this week, Bloomberg Law reported<\/a> on the HHS statement that Jackson was on leave and made public a draft memo by one of the agency\u2019s senior officials<\/a> that would have granted Jackson a conflict waiver involving many of her and her husband\u2019s extensive investments. Since she joined ARPA-H, the memo said, Jackson and her husband\u2019s financial ties required her to recuse herself from \u201ca significant portion\u201d of her duties, including discussions about funding awarded by her agency. The waiver named 30 investments and would have allowed Jackson to take part in decisions that could affect those interests. Evernow is not listed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bloomberg reported that two firms with ties to Jackson sought ARPA-H funding, but it was unclear if either received any. HHS did not respond to ProPublica\u2019s questions asking whether the waiver was ever granted or if the firms had received money from ARPA-H. The Office of Government Ethics does not list Jackson among federal officials who have received waivers.<\/p>\n Jackson\u2019s disclosures are among 2,400 added Thursday to ProPublica\u2019s Trump Team Financials database<\/a>, a searchable tool launched in March. The records detail the finances of more than 2,300 officials appointed by President Donald Trump. Since last year, we\u2019ve requested disclosure records from 127 federal agencies and the White House. Disclosures from roughly 1,500 appointees remain unreleased.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Trump administration\u2019s massive cuts to the federal bureaucracy have taken a toll on the ranks of ethics staff. By the end of 2025, there were 274 fewer\u202ffull-time\u202fethics officials, according to a recent analysis<\/a> of federal survey records by the government watchdog group Campaign Legal Center. Some agencies said the losses hampered ethics officers\u2019 ability to conduct training and monitor employee compliance.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump appointees failed to file nearly 420 legally mandated public financial disclosure reports last year, almost a fourfold spike compared with the Biden administration\u2019s last full year, the center found.\u00a0Nevertheless, our database provides the most complete source yet for this administration\u2019s ethics documents.\u00a0<\/p>\n Potential Serious Conflicts<\/p>\n Jackson spent years navigating the worlds of technological research, government and entrepreneurship, according to her government bio<\/a> and LinkedIn profile<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n After earning a doctorate in materials science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2007, she worked briefly as a U.S. Senate policy staffer. She subsequently joined the Pentagon\u2019s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as a program manager, later becoming deputy director of its first biotechnology office.<\/p>\n Jackson left the Defense Department in mid-2015, going on to lead several biotech businesses before starting Evernow in 2019. The San Francisco-based company connects women experiencing sometimes debilitating menopause symptoms with medical providers who prescribe treatments.\u00a0<\/p>\n Evernow offers patients one-time treatments or memberships for frequent care. Its website lists celebrity angel investors, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, Demi Moore and Drew Barrymore.<\/p>\n Jackson was appointed by Trump as ARPA-H\u2019s second director<\/a> and was sworn in on Oct. 20, 2025. The agency, created three years earlier to spur revolutionary biomedical research and technologies, has a $1.5 billion budget. It has issued numerous contracts and grants, including $160 million for genetic medicines combating rare diseases and $144 million to study existing treatments for age-related illnesses.<\/p>\n In both of her financial statements, Jackson said she owned Evernow stock worth between $115,002 and $300,000. (Federal disclosures include value ranges, not specific figures.) She also listed company stock options whose value, she said in her most recent financial report, were \u201cnot readily ascertainable.\u201d (In a statement late Wednesday, Evernow said Jackson does not currently hold a financial interest in the company. The firm did not immediately respond to follow-up questions.)<\/p>\n Jackson\u2019s disclosures<\/a> also show investments in Gameto Inc., a Texas-based biotechnology company working through a two-year, $10 million award from ARPA-H to create ovarian treatments preventing menopause-related diseases. The award predated Jackson joining ARPA-H. But as her office oversaw Gameto\u2019s project, her stock\u2019s value increased, documents show.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jackson\u2019s Gameto investment was worth between $15,001 and $50,000 in her October 2025 disclosure. Her Aug. 13 filing shows it grew to between $50,001 and $100,000. It\u2019s unclear what drove the increase in value.<\/p>\n In addition, Jackson owns more than 60 venture capital and private equity funds that she says do not disclose their holdings to investors.\u00a0<\/p>\n These include at least 13 funds managed by 137 Ventures, a venture capital firm co-founded by Jackson\u2019s husband, Alex Jacobson. The company invests in a wide range of industries, including healthcare, digital health and medical device companies, according to its website.\u00a0<\/p>\n Federal appointees must list their spouses\u2019 employment, but Jackson never included her husband\u2019s role<\/a> at 137 Ventures<\/a> on her public disclosures. Jacobson did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n Ethics experts said Jackson\u2019s funds could pose a serious conflict of interest if the underlying businesses they invested in received grants or contracts from her agency. To resolve such risks, federal agencies typically require employees to work with the investment vehicles to identify the contents of such funds. If the investment firms insisted on anonymity, employees could be required to sell the funds or recuse themselves from actions potentially affecting the assets, the experts said.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, 10 months after starting work at HHS, Jackson retained the funds and their underlying investments remained undisclosed, according to her August financial statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kedric Payne, Campaign Legal Center\u2019s vice president, general counsel and senior director for ethics, said Jackson\u2019s lack of disclosure about her husband and the funds she owns \u201csuggests that agency leaders may be hiding their conflicts of interest from the public, and there is no ethics enforcement to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n The disclosures also show her husband owns between $5 million and $25 million worth of stock in Palantir Technologies, which had a $19 million contract<\/a> from Jackson\u2019s agency when she became ARPA-H director. Palantir, which has similar contracts with other federal agencies, is using its software and AI technology to build and improve ARPA-H\u2019s data infrastructure and operational systems. In June, ARPA-H extended the company\u2019s contract by a year, records show. The renewal<\/a> is worth up to $13.7 million for Palantir.<\/p>\n The draft waiver obtained by Bloomberg would have allowed Jackson to take part in decisions that could affect Palantir, Gameto and more than two dozen other investments but says she must still comply with the terms of an ethics agreement. The draft waiver includes a note dated April 30 \u2014 six months after Jackson started the job \u2014 that says discussions about the ethics agreement were ongoing. In addition to Evernow, the waiver does not specifically mention the funds managed by 137 Ventures.\u00a0<\/p>\n HHS officials would not answer repeated questions about whether Jackson recused herself from Palantir\u2019s contract, has an ethics agreement or has divested any assets. The agency has not produced an ethics agreement in response to a July Freedom of Information Act request.\u00a0<\/p>\n Public Good or Personal Gain?<\/p>\n Since January 2025, ProPublica has continually obtained disclosure records to investigate how personal financial interests have intersected with government decision-making inside the Trump administration. The new disclosures added to our searchable tool Thursday include many that have raised concerns about additional conflicts of interest, including at HHS.\u00a0<\/p>\n Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jackson\u2019s ultimate boss, has drawn questions about whether he used his office to help his wife, actress Cheryl Hines.<\/p>\n According to his latest financial disclosure, Hines\u2019 media company, Youngster Productions Inc., received $210,000<\/a> in consulting fees from MAHA Action<\/a>, a nonprofit promoting Kennedy\u2019s Make America Healthy Again agenda. Under the contract, Hines has vigorously advocated for MAHA Action, appearing in several videos and press releases. The\u00a0group has also claimed credit for policy actions launched by Kennedy\u2019s HHS.<\/p>\n News of the contract, first reported by The New York Times<\/a>, prompted the Campaign Legal Center to ask the HHS inspector general to examine whether Kennedy made or influenced policies that benefited his wife. Kennedy also received more than $270,000 in gifts<\/a> from allies working to bolster MAHA, his disclosure showed.<\/p>\n \u201cAmericans deserve to know whether their leaders are prioritizing the public good or focusing more on their personal financial gain,\u201d said Payne of Campaign Legal Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n HHS denied any wrongdoing by Kennedy, telling the Times the secretary \u201ccomplies with all applicable federal ethics laws, regulations and financial disclosure requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n Campaign Legal Center\u2019s analysis of federal ethics staff this year found Kennedy\u2019s cuts to the agency eliminated nearly 30% of HHS\u2019 full-time ethics workers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another HHS official whose disclosures raised ethical alarms was the agency\u2019s top attorney, Mike Stuart. Stuart was reassigned after a Washington Sun investigation<\/a> found he invested in a company doing business with the department and repurchased stock in other businesses that ethics officials had required him to sell.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Office of Government Ethics refused to certify Stuart\u2019s annual disclosure report<\/a> \u201cdue to continued non-compliance\u201d with his ethics agreement<\/a>, the Sun revealed.<\/p>\n Stuart said he didn\u2019t know of the company\u2019s involvement with the department and immediately sold his stock when ethics officials raised questions. \u201cMy whole career, I\u2019ve never had even a whiff of an ethical issue. I\u2019m extra careful that I am completely in compliance,\u201d Stuart told the Sun.\u00a0<\/p>\n The disclosures obtained by ProPublica since early last year have revealed potential conflicts across the federal government, including at the highest levels.<\/p>\n In December, ProPublica reported that Trump had appointed more than 200 people who collectively owned \u2014 personally or with their spouses \u2014 between $175 million and $340 million in cryptocurrency investments at the time they filed their disclosures. Some hold positions overseeing or influencing crypto industry regulation<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among them is Todd Blanche, Trump\u2019s former criminal defense attorney and now the nation\u2019s attorney general. Blanche\u2019s disclosures<\/a> show that he owned at least $159,000<\/a> in crypto-related assets last year when, as the Justice Department\u2019s second-highest official, he shut down<\/a> investigations into crypto companies, dealers and exchanges.\u00a0<\/p>\n Democrats in Congress accused Blanche<\/a> of a \u201cglaring conflict of interest\u201d; a Justice Department spokesperson said Blanche\u2019s action was \u201cappropriately flagged, addressed and cleared in advance.\u201d An Office of Government Ethics official noted on Blanche\u2019s latest disclosure that the inspector general \u201cdeclined further action\u201d related to the crypto holdings.<\/p>\n Other disclosures helped show that senior executive branch officials, including Pam Bondi<\/a> when she was attorney general, made well-timed securities trades, selling stocks just before markets plunged<\/a> because Trump announced new tariffs. (The officials either did not respond to requests for comment or denied having insider information before trading.)<\/p>\n Disclosure forms also revealed in July that Federal Communications Commission officials<\/a> took pricey gifts from Paramount, including tickets worth $12,000<\/a> and skybox seats<\/a> worth $125,000<\/a> each for the annual honors gala at the Kennedy Center. The media giant provided the perks while seeking FCC approval for its mergers with Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. (The FCC said agency ethics officers approved the commissioners\u2019 attendance as consistent with ethics law.)<\/p>\n Our database has helped other news organizations uncover potential conflicts of interest. The Lever<\/a>, for instance, found that the Pentagon\u2019s chief technology officer<\/a> was \u201ca central figure in the decision to blacklist the AI company Anthropic\u201d while owning a stake in a competitive AI developer. A Defense Department spokesperson said the official, Emil Michael, fully complied with ethics requirements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last November, the Department of Health and Human Services announced the elimination of \u201cblack box\u201d warnings on hormone…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-817763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2196609300.jpg\")
Cheryl Hines, wife of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., watches her husband testify during his Senate Finance Committee confirmation in 2025. Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2255818573.jpg\")
Former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks with Todd Blanche, then her deputy and now attorney general, in the White House in January. Mandel Ngan\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n