The White House has issued a new executive order aimed at accelerating the fight against pediatric cancer through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The order, signed by President Donald J. Trump on September 30, 2025, outlines a policy to leverage AI for improved prevention and treatment of childhood diseases.
According to the order, pediatric cancer is the leading cause of disease-related death for children in the United States aged 1-19 years, with its incidence increasing by more than 40 percent since 1975. The administration has identified reversing this trend as a key priority for the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, established earlier this year.
“In 2019, my Administration created the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI), a Federal investment in childhood cancer research of $50 million in funding every year for 10 years to address the critical need to collect, generate, and analyze childhood cancer data. The CCDI is building a foundational data infrastructure, aggregating and generating new data, and using this data to make new discoveries,” President Trump stated in the order.
He added: “AI can be used to build upon this data initiative to produce meaningful solutions to pediatric, adolescent, and young adulthood cancer. This application of AI has the potential to transform the Nation’s current care and research approach for pediatric cancer -– as well as our healthcare and research infrastructure more broadly –- through use of the rich and multimodal data, secured with appropriate individual privacy protections, to develop early and superior diagnostics, identify cures and optimize treatments, and advance medicine that will save lives.”
The MAHA Commission is tasked with working alongside federal agencies including Health and Human Services (HHS) and science advisors to integrate advanced technologies into efforts against pediatric cancer. Early steps will focus on improving data infrastructure for AI analysis within programs like CCDI; enhancing predictive modeling of patient outcomes using AI tools; turning complex biological data into diagnostic or therapeutic markers; and making clinical trials more accessible by incorporating multimodal datasets.
To support these goals, federal agencies are directed to increase investments from existing funds into initiatives addressing pediatric cancer. There is also an emphasis on encouraging private sector involvement with advanced technologies such as AI.
Additionally, HHS will work toward finalizing standards for electronic health record interoperability that facilitate safe sharing of structured and unstructured patient data—while ensuring patients’ control over their information remains intact.
The executive order further clarifies that it does not alter legal authorities or create enforceable rights but directs relevant departments to carry out its provisions within available resources.
