President-elect Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that he will be Dr. Rachel Levine has been nominated as Assistant Secretary for Health at the United States Department of Health and Human Services. If confirmed by the Senate, Levine would be the first openly transgender federal official in a Senate-confirmed role, the Biden-Harris transition team said.
Levine, Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, is currently leading the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to help people get through this pandemic – regardless of zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability – and meet the public health needs of us. country. at this critical time and beyond, “Mr Biden said in a statement.” She is a historic and highly qualified choice to help guide our government’s health efforts.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris called Levine “a remarkable civil servant with the knowledge and experience to help us contain this pandemic and protect and improve the health and wellbeing of the American people.”
Biden-Harris Transition Team
A graduate of Harvard College and Tulane University School of Medicine, Levine completed her education in pediatrics and juvenile medicine at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York City. She is also a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at Penn State College of Medicine and chair of ASTHO, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
She was confirmed three times by the Republican-controlled Senate as Pennsylvania Secretary of Health and as the state’s physician general.
The doctor is also an “author on the opioid crisis, medical marijuana, adolescent medicine, eating disorders, and LGBTQ + medicine,” the publication said.
In a recent interview with Melissa Quinn of CBS News, Levine spoke about Pennsylvania’s efforts to ensure that urban and rural areas have equitable access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Pharmacies will be very important and necessary, but not enough,” said Levine. “It’s not the vaccine that’s the problem. It’s vaccination. We have to administer them to people. We need to get the vaccines. ‘
The Pennsylvania Equality Project celebrated her nomination, saying in a statement to CBS Philly: “[W]We couldn’t possibly be more excited for her and our community to have such an amazing and inspiring representation at the highest levels of our government. Well-deserved Dr. Levine – well deserved! We are sure you will work as hard to protect Americans as you did in Pennsylvania for years! “
In her high profile role as leader of the state’s coronavirus response, Levine has become the target of anti-transgender harassment and online attacks. They shouted those responsible at a press conference in July.
“To the perpetrators and perpetrators of these actions, if your apologies are sincere, then I accept them. But an apology is the beginning, not the end, of the conversation,” said Levine.
“As for me, I have no place in my heart for hatred, and frankly, I have no time for bigotry.”