"There's lots of different ways to do that work of healing," Fraser said, "and I think that's what's really driving her. Levine was president of the association when President Joe Biden nominated her to her new role. But I really consider what I've been doing over the last six, seven years to be public service and public health."īy any name, she's good at it, said her friend Michael Fraser, chief executive officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. "I think that there are political considerations in public health. She is quick to point out that does not make her a politician. She eventually became a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine and had several roles at Penn State Hershey Medical Center.Īfter Democrat Tom Wolf became governor of Pennsylvania in 2015, she became the state's physician general, then secretary of health. She studied at Harvard College and Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, where she was drawn to the developing field of adolescent medicine. "I had the exposure to researchers, but also surgeons and surgical residents." "I decided in high school, after I took my first biology class, that I was interested" in being a doctor, she said, and the Massachusetts native soon found work in a lab in Boston.
At 63, she has had a lifetime to prepare. In her new job, she hopes to address that problem and more. LGBTQ people who feel discriminated against often will not seek care. "There are numerous studies done to show that, unfortunately, LGBTQ individuals, and particularly transgender individuals, sometimes face challenges in accessing our health care system," she said. And I'm able to do that nationally now."Īlthough she has spent much of June doing interviews related to Pride Month, she makes clear it all comes back to health. And I feel that I have been able to do that in Pennsylvania. "I am very pleased to advocate for the LGBTQ community in terms of health equity and equality and fairness. She's not opposed to using her status to help spread her message. It's been about healing – as a pediatrician, teacher, researcher and Pennsylvania's health secretary, fighting the opioid epidemic and COVID-19. But she said her career hasn't been about seeking attention for herself. Levine, the assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services, made history in March when she became the first openly transgender official confirmed by the Senate. Rachel Levine wanted to work in health because she wanted to help people.
Department of Health and Human Services)ĭr. National Hypertension Control InitiativeĪssistant Secretary for Health Dr.Pets and Your Health / Healthy Bond for Life.
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