WASHINGTON (AP) – Elected President Joe Biden has named Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine as his Assistant Secretary of Health, and is preparing to become the first federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
A pediatrician and former physician general in Pennsylvania, Levine, was appointed to her current position in 2017 by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, making her one of the few transgender people serving in elected or designated positions nationwide. She has confirmed the former Senate of the Republic of Pennsylvania in the Republic and is the public face of the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Dr. Rachel Levine will provide the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic – regardless of their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability – and to meet the public health needs of our country. “In this critical moment and beyond,” Biden said in a statement. “She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help guide our government’s health efforts.”
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A graduate of Harvard and Tulane Medical School, Levine is president of the Association of State and Regional Health Officers. She has written in the past about the opioid crisis, medical marijuana, adolescent medicine, eating disorders and LGBTQ medicine.
FILE – In this March 12, 2020 file photo, Rachel Levine, Secretary of Health, Pennsylvania, gives an update on the coronavirus known as COVID-19 in Harrisburg, Pa. (Joe Hermitt / The Patriot-News via AP, File)
((Joe Hermitt / The Patriot-News via AP, File))
Biden and his transition team have already begun negotiations with members of Congress and the promotion of the elected president’s $ 1.9 billion plan to bring the coronavirus, which killed nearly 400,000 people in the United States, under control. It seeks to enlist federal emergency personnel to run mass vaccination centers and provide 100 vaccination surveys in the first 100 days of its administration while using government spending to stimulate the pandemic-hammered economy.
Biden also says that in one of his first appearances as president, he will ask Americans to wear masks for 100 days to slow down the spread of the virus.
Levine joins Biden’s nominated candidate, Xavier Becerra, secretary of health and human services, a Latin politician who rose from a humble beginning to serve in Congress and as attorney general in California.
Businessman Jeff Zients is Biden’s response coordinator, while Biden prefers specialist Rochelle Walensky to run the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Vivek Murthy as surgeon general and Yale epidemiologist Marcella Nunez-Smith to chair a working group on fair and to ensure fair. distribution of vaccines and treatments.
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The government’s leading expert on infectious diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci, will also work closely with the Biden government.