President-elect Joe Biden continues to make history with his cabinet picks, as he has just announced his nomination for assistant health secretary. Biden has chosen Dr. Rachel Levine, who, if confirmed, will be the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the US Senate. “Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability — and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond. She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration’s health efforts,” Biden said in a statement this morning. Additionally, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris called Dr. Levine “a remarkable public servant.”
Dr. Levine is a graduate of Harvard as well as Tulane Medical School, and currently serves as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health. Throughout her career, she has written about a variety of health topics including medicinal marijuana, the opioid crisis, eating disorders, and LGBTQ+ medicine. She is also a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Penn State College of Medicine and served as Pennsylvania’s physician general in 2015 and assistant health secretary in 2017. Dr. Levine joins fellow Biden picks Xavier Becerra for head of the Department of Health and Human Services as the first Latino to perform the role, and Pete Buttigieg for transportation secretary as the first openly gay cabinet member if confirmed.
Sources:
“Biden announces Rachel Levine as pick for assistant secretary at HHS, would be first transgender Senate-confirmed federal official” https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/19/politics/rachel-levine-health-and-human-services/index.html
“Biden picks transgender woman as assistant health secretary” https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/19/biden-rachel-levine-health-secretary-460278
