President-elect Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that he had appointed Dr. Rachel Levine to serve as assistant secretary of health in the United States Department of Health and Human Services. If confirmed by the Senate, Levine would be the first openly transgender federal employee in a Senate-confirmed role, according to the Biden-Harris transition team.
Levine, who is Pennsylvania’s secretary of health, is currently leading the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the stable leadership and essential experience we need to help people overcome this pandemic – no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability – and meet the needs of public health in our country at this critical time and beyond, “said Biden in a statement. “It is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our government’s health efforts.”
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris called Levine “a remarkable public servant with the knowledge and experience to help us contain this pandemic and protect and improve the health and well-being of the American people.”
Biden-Harris Transition Team
Levine, a graduate of Harvard College and Tulane University School of Medicine, completed her training in pediatrics and teen 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 serves as president of ASTHO, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
She has been confirmed as Pennsylvania health secretary and state general practitioner by the Republican-controlled state Senate three times.
The doctor is also an “author on opioid crisis, medical marijuana, teen medication, eating disorders and LGBTQ + drugs,” according to the statement.
Inside a recent interview with Melissa Quinn of CBS News, Levine talked about Pennsylvania’s efforts to ensure that urban and rural areas have equal access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Pharmacies are going to be very important and necessary, but not enough,” said Levine. “It is not the vaccine that is in question. It is vaccination. We have to make sure people are administered. We need to put vaccines in the arms.”
The Pennsylvania Equality Project celebrated his nomination, saying in a statement to CBS Philly: “[W]We couldn’t be more excited about her and our community having such an incredible and inspiring representation at the highest levels of our government. Well-deserved Dr. Levine – well-deserved! We are sure that you will work as hard to protect Americans as you did in Pennsylvania for many years! “
In his leading role in leading the state’s response to the coronavirus, Levine became the target of anti-transgender harassment and online attacks. She called those responsible at a press conference in July.
“To the perpetrators and perpetrators of these actions, if their 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 room in my heart for hate and, frankly, I have no time for intolerance.”