Joe Biden Picks Dr. Rachel Levine, A Transgender Woman, As assistant Health Secretary In Historic First!
This Tuesday, President-elect Joe Biden announced that he has nominated Dr. Rachel Levine to serve as assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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Levine, a pediatrician, would become the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, according to the Biden-Harris transition team. Biden said in a statement:
“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,” Biden said. “She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration’s health efforts.”
Meanwhile, 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.”
Levine also joins Joe Biden’s Health and Human Services secretary nominee Xavier Becerra, a Latino politician who rose from humble beginnings to serve in Congress and as California’s attorney general, WPXI notes.
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