United States Secretary of Health and Human Services

Secretary of Health and Human Services of the United States of America
Seal of the Department of Health and Human Services
Flag of the Secretary of Health and Human Services
Incumbent Norris Cochran since January 20, 2017 Acting
United States Department of Health and Human Services
Style	Madam Secretary
Member of	Cabinet
Reports to	The President
Seat	Washington, D.C.
Appointer	The President with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1953 67 Stat. 631 42 U.S.C. § 3501
Formation	August 3, 1979
First holder	Patricia Roberts Harris
Succession	Eleventh in the United States Presidential Line of Succession
Deputy	Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services
Salary	Executive Schedule, level 1
Website	www.hhs.gov

The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is the head of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, concerned with health matters. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet. The office was formerly Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.

In 1979, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was renamed the Department of Health and Human Services, and its education functions transferred to the new Department of Education. Patricia Roberts Harris headed the department before and after it was renamed.

Nominations to the office of Secretary of HHS are referred to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicare and Medicaid, before confirmation is considered by the full United States Senate.

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act the role of the Secretary has been greatly expanded.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell was nominated by President Obama on April 11, 2014, to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services after the resignation of Kathleen Sebelius. She was confirmed on June 5, 2014 and sworn in on June 9, 2014.

Duties

The flag of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, the predecessor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

The duties of the secretary revolve around human conditions and concerns in the United States. This includes advising the president on matters of health, welfare, and income security programs. It strives to administer the Department of Health and Human Services to carry out approved programs and make the public aware of the objectives of the department.

The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) was reorganized into a Department of Education and a Department of Health and Human Services (US DHHS), and the latter is the largest department in the federal government with the contender the Department of Defense.

Since the attacks of 9/11 and the subsequent anthrax attacks, the position has held a unique significance in the War on Terrorism. Upon his departure, then-Secretary Tommy Thompson remarked "I, for the life of me, cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply, because it is so easy to do..." Scholars concur, arguing that an attack on food (particularly milk) could affect more than 100,000 people. In part, the new US DHHS, like other federal departments, have been subjected to a reorganization of federal personnel and contracts led by the US Homeland Security Office, and resulting in shifting privatization in core industries and "police control".

The Department of Health and Human Services oversees 11 agencies including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Center for Disease Control (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

List of Secretaries of Health and Human Services

Parties

  Democratic (8)   Republican (14)   Independent (1)

Secretaries of Health, Education, and Welfare
No.	Portrait	Name	State of residence	Took office	Left office	President(s)
1		Oveta Culp Hobby	Texas	April 11, 1953	July 31, 1955		Dwight D. Eisenhower
2		Marion B. Folsom	New York	August 2, 1955	July 31, 1958
3		Arthur S. Flemming	Ohio	August 1, 1958	January 19, 1961
4		Abraham A. Ribicoff	Connecticut	January 21, 1961	July 13, 1962		John F. Kennedy
5		Anthony J. Celebrezze	Ohio	July 31, 1962	August 17, 1965
						Lyndon B. Johnson
6			John W. Gardner	California	August 18, 1965		March 1, 1968
7			Wilbur J. Cohen	Michigan	May 16, 1968		January 20, 1969
8		Robert H. Finch	California	January 21, 1969	June 23, 1970		Richard Nixon
9		Elliot L. Richardson	Massachusetts	June 24, 1970	January 29, 1973
10		Caspar W. Weinberger	California	February 12, 1973	August 8, 1975
							Gerald Ford
11		F. David Mathews	Alabama	August 8, 1975	January 20, 1977
12		Joseph A. Califano, Jr.	District of Columbia	January 25, 1977	August 3, 1979		Jimmy Carter
13		Patricia Roberts Harris	District of Columbia	August 3, 1979	May 4, 1980
Secretaries of Health and Human Services
No.	Portrait	Name	State of residence	Took office	Left office	President(s)
13		Patricia Roberts Harris	District of Columbia	May 4, 1980	January 20, 1981		Jimmy Carter
14		Richard S. Schweiker	Pennsylvania	January 22, 1981	February 3, 1983		Ronald Reagan
15		Margaret M. Heckler	Massachusetts	March 9, 1983	December 13, 1985
16		Otis R. Bowen	Indiana	December 13, 1985	January 20, 1989
17		Louis W. Sullivan	Georgia	March 1, 1989	January 20, 1993		George H. W. Bush
18		Donna Shalala	Wisconsin	January 22, 1993	January 20, 2001		Bill Clinton
19		Tommy G. Thompson	Wisconsin	February 2, 2001	January 26, 2005		George W. Bush
20		Michael O. Leavitt	Utah	January 26, 2005	January 20, 2009
21		Kathleen Sebelius	Kansas	April 28, 2009	June 9, 2014		Barack Obama
22		Sylvia Mathews Burwell	District of Columbia	June 9, 2014	January 20, 2017
–		Norris Cochran		January 20, 2017	present		Donald Trump
23		Tom Price	Georgia	January 2017 Pending Senate confirmation	Nominee

Line of Succession

The line of succession for the Secretary of Health and Human Services is as follows:

1. Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services.
2. General Counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services
3. Assistant Secretary for Administration
4. Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
5. Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
6. Commissioner of Food and Drugs
7. Director of the National Institutes of Health
8. Assistant Secretary for Children and Families
9. Other Assistant Secretaries (following in the order they took the oath of office)
   1. Assistant Secretary for Health
   2. Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response
   3. Assistant Secretary for Legislation
   4. Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs
   5. Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources
   6. Assistant Secretary for Aging
10. Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
11. Director, Region 4 (Atlanta, Georgia)

Living former secretaries

See also: List of living former members of the United States Cabinet

Health, education, and welfare

As of January 2017, there are two living former Secretaries of Health, Education and Welfare, the oldest being Joseph A. Califano, Jr. (served 1977-1979, born 1931). The most recent Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare to die was Caspar Weinberger (served 1973-1975, born 1917), on March 28, 2006. The most recently serving Secretary to die was Patricia Roberts Harris (served 1979-1980, born 1924) on March 23, 1985.

Name	Term	Date of birth (and age)
F. David Mathews	1975–1977	(1935-12-06) December 6, 1935
Joseph A. Califano, Jr.	1977–1979	(1931-05-15) May 15, 1931

Health and human services

A gathering of five secretaries in June 2015

As of January 2017, there are seven living former Secretaries of Health and Human services, the oldest being Margaret Heckler (served 1986-1989, born 1931). The most recent Secretary of Health and Human services to die was Richard Schweiker (served 1981-1983, born 1926), on July 31, 2015. The most recently serving Secretary to die was Otis R. Bowen (served 1985-1988, born 1918) on May 4, 2013.

Name	Term	Date of birth (and age)
Margaret Heckler	1983–1985	(1931-06-21) June 21, 1931
Louis W. Sullivan	1989–1993	(1933-11-03) November 3, 1933
Donna Shalala	1993–2001	(1941-02-14) February 14, 1941
Tommy Thompson	2001–2005	(1941-11-19) November 19, 1941
Mike Leavitt	2005-2009	(1951-02-11) February 11, 1951
Kathleen Sebelius	2009-2014	(1948-05-15) May 15, 1948
Sylvia Mathews Burwell	2014-2017	(1965-06-23) June 23, 1965

External links

• United States Department of Health and Human Services Official Website
• Department Of Health And Human Services Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register RSS Feed

United States presidential line of succession
Preceded by Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez	12th in line	Succeeded by Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro