US President-elect Joe Biden announced his nomination to the post of Assistant Secretary for Health on Tuesday, who would become the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the US Senate.
Biden chose Rachel Levine to serve as deputy secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the transitional presidential agency said in a statement.
In the United States, senior government officials need Senate approval, which will be overseen by the Democrats after Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris take office on Wednesday.
“Levine will bring the continued leadership and essential expertise we need to help people overcome this pandemic,” said Biden.
“It is a very qualified and historic option to help guide our government’s health efforts,” he said.
Biden inherits multiple crises in reaching the White House, the largest of which is the rampant coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed the lives of nearly 400,000 people in the country in the past year.
The president-elect plans to vaccinate 100 million people during his first 100 days in office and said he will ask billions of dollars from Congress to fund massive immunization centers.
Levine is currently Pennsylvania Secretary of Health and Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Penn State University School of Medicine.
Biden appointed California politician Xavier Becerra as Secretary of Health. If confirmed by the Senate, Becerra will become the first Hispanic to run HHS.