United States Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services explained

Post:	United States Deputy Secretary
Body:	Health and Human Services
Flagsize:	130
Insignia:	US Department of Health and Human Services seal.svg
Insigniasize:	120
Insigniacaption:	Seal of the Department
Incumbent:	Andrea Palm
Incumbentsince:	May 12, 2021
Department:	United States Department of Health and Human Services
Style:	Madam Deputy Secretary (informal) The Honorable (formal)
Reports To:	United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
Seat:	Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Washington, D.C.
Appointer:	President of the United States
Appointer Qualified:	with Senate advice and consent
Termlength:	No fixed term
Precursor:	Under Secretary of Health and Human Services
Formation:	August 1990
First:	Constance Horner
Salary:	Executive Schedule, level II

The Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services (formerly the under Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1953–1979, and the under Secretary of Health and Human Services, 1979–1990) is the Chief Operating Officer of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The deputy secretary oversees all operations within the Department, including overseeing Medicare, Medicaid, public health, medical research, food and drug safety, welfare, child and family services, disease prevention, Indian health, and mental health services. The current Deputy Secretary is Andrea Palm, who was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 11, 2021.

The deputy secretary is also the regulatory policy officer for the department, overseeing the development and approval of all HHS regulations and significant guidance. In addition, the deputy secretary leads a number of initiatives at the department, including implementing the President's management agenda, combating bio-terrorism, and public health emergency preparedness. She also represents the secretary of health and human services on the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The deputy secretary is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.^[1] The deputy secretary is paid at level II of the Executive Schedule.^[2] The deputy secretary is assisted by a principal associate deputy secretary of health and human services, two associate deputy secretaries, and three staff assistants.^[3] The position of deputy secretary was originally held by an under secretary until the position was retitled in August 1990. The position of under secretary had been in existence since the creation of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1953.^[1]

List

Under secretaries of health, education, and welfare

Image	Name	Took office	Left office	President served under	References
	Nelson Rockefeller	June 1953	December 1954	Dwight D. Eisenhower	^[6]
	Vacant	December 1954	September 1955		^[7]
	Herold Christian Hunt	September 1955	February 1957		^[8]
	Vacant	February 1957	April 1957		^[9]
	John Alanson Perkins	April 1957	March 1958		^[10] ^[11]
	Vacant	March 7, 1958	March 18, 1958		^[12]
	Bertha Adkins	March 1958	January 1961		^[13] ^[14]
	Ivan Arnold Nestingen	January 1961	May 1965	John F. Kennedy	^[15] ^[16] ^[17]
				Lyndon B. Johnson
	Wilbur J. Cohen	June 1965	May 1968		^[18]
	Vacant	May 1968	July 1968		^[19]
	James H. McCrocklin	July 1968	January 1969		^[20] ^[21] ^[22]
	Vacant	January 1969	March 1969	Richard Nixon	^[23]
	John Veneman	March 1969	January 1973		^[24] ^[25] ^[26]
	Frank Carlucci	January 1973	January 1975
				Gerald Ford	^[27]
	Marjorie Lynch	November 1975	January 1977
				Gerald Ford
	Hale Champion	January 1977	June 1979
				Jimmy Carter	^[28] ^[29]

Under secretaries of health and human services

Image	Name	Took office	Left office	President served under	References
	John A. Svahn	March 1983	September 1983	Ronald Reagan	^[30]
	Charles D. Baker	1984	1985
	Don M. Newman	1985	1989
	Constance Horner	1989	August 1990	George H. W. Bush

Deputy secretaries of health and human services

Image	Name	Took office	Left office	President served under	References
	Constance Horner	August 1990	1991	George H. W. Bush
	Kevin Moley	1991	1993
	Walter Broadnax	1993	1996	Bill Clinton
	Kevin Thurm	1996	2001		^[31]
	Claude Allen	May 26, 2001	January 22, 2005	George W. Bush	^[32]
	Alex Azar	January 22, 2005	February 4, 2007		^[33]
	Eric Hargan (acting)	February 4, 2007	August 5, 2007		^[34]
	Tevi Troy	August 5, 2007	January 20, 2009		^[35]
	Bill Corr	May 6, 2009	April 2015	Barack Obama	^[36]
	Mary Katherine Wakefield (acting)	April 2015	January 20, 2017
	Colleen Barros (acting)	January 20, 2017	October 6, 2017	Donald Trump
	Eric Hargan	October 6, 2017	January 20, 2021
	Andrea Palm	May 12, 2021	Incumbent	Joe Biden

Notes and References

1. Web site: US CODE: Title 42,3501. Establishment of Department; effective date . September 25, 2007.
2. Web site: US CODE: Title 5,5313. Positions at level II . September 25, 2007.
3. Web site: HHS/OS Organizational Directory (IOS/Office of the Deputy Secretary) – Browse . September 25, 2007.
4. Smith, Jessie Carney, "Notable Black American women, Book II" (1996), p. 611 "In April, 1953, when the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was established with Oveta Culp Hobby as its first secretary, Spaulding was appointed her assistant. ... After only nine months... Spaulding was reassigned. On January 21, 1954, HEW released to the press the entire text of Jane Spaulding's resignation along with the report that she has accepted a position with the War Claims Commission."
5. Mjagki, Nina, "Portraits of African American life since 1865" (2003), p. 190 "More African Americans were appointed to high federal posts during the Eisenhower than by any other administration since that of Theodore Roosevelt". Roberta Church was reportedly considered for the position of "assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare"... "but that job went to Jane Morrow Spaulding, another prominent black Republican."
6. A common thread of Service, p. 43. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. Under Secretary was a new office, outranking the position of Assistant. "Nelson A. Rockefeller June 11, 1953 – December 22, 1954".
7. A common thread of Service, p. 43. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Vacancy December 23, 1954 – September 11, 1955".
8. A common thread of Service, p. 43. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Herold C. Hunt September 12, 1955 – February 4, 1957".
9. A common thread of Service, p. 43. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Vacancy February 5, 1957 – April 4, 1957".
10. A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "John A.Perkins April 5, 1957 – March 6, 1958".
11. "Journal of physical education and recreation", Vol. 28 (1957), p. 52. "John Alanson Perkins, who has been president of the University of Delaware since 1950, has been appointed to the position of Under Secretary".
12. A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Vacancy March 7, 1958 – March 18, 1958".
13. A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Bertha S. Atkins March 19, 1958 – January 19, 1961".
14. O'Dea Schenken, Suzanne, "From suffrage to the Senate: an encyclopedia of American women in Politics, Vol. II", p. 17. Contains a bio of Adkins. "Adkins, Bertha Sheppard (1906–1983). Undersecretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1958 to 1960. ... Served as director of the Republican Party's Women's Division from 1950 to 1953, when the division closed. Adkins then became assistant to the chair of the Republican National Committee, serving until 1960."
15. A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Ivan A. Nestingen January 21, 1961 – May 31, 1965".
16. Mossman, Jennifer, "Almanac of Famous People". Vol. 1", p. 1421. Contains a brief bio of Nestingen. "Nestingen, Ivan Arnold" (1921–1978) . He is listed as Mayor of Madison Wisconsin from 1956 to 1961, Under Secretary of HEW from 1961 to 1965.
17. Bowling, Lawson, "Shapers of the Great Debate on the Great Society", p. 44. Covers Nestingen in a section covering the efforts to introduce Medicare and his working relationship with Wilbur J. Cohen. "Cohen's immediate superior and fellow Wisconsinite, HEW Undersecretary Ivan Nestingen, grew extremely frustrated with the congressional logjam and, disillusioned with Cohen's inside game, came to favor an outside public relations effort to create pressure on Congress, banking on the Medicare concept's general popularity. ... Nestingen eventually left government service in 1965 in a fashion rumored not to be voluntary".
18. A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Wilbur J. Cohen June 1, 1965 – May 16, 1968".
19. A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Vacancy May 17, 1968 – July 14, 1968".
20. A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "James H. McCrocklin July 15, 1968 – January 20, 1969".
21. https://web.archive.org/web/20121107051326/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,841305-1,00.html Time Magazine article, L.B.J. : Lengthening Shadows
22. "The inauguration of James Henry McCrocklin as fourth president of Southwest Texas State Teachers College" 1964). The title offers the full name of McCrocklin.
23. A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Vacancy January 21, 1969 – March 5, 1969".
24. A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "John G. Veneman March 6, 1969 to present". The book was published in 1970
25. Derthick, Martha, "Policymaking for social security" (1979), p. 68. "The Nixon administration of 1969–72 continued the practice of liberal appointees with Robert H. Finch (1969–1970) and Richardson (1970–1973) as secretaries and John G. Veneman (1969–1973) as under secretary".
26. Kaplowitz, Craig Allan, "LULAC, Mexican Americans and National Policy" (2005), p. 147. "As John Veneman, undersecretary of HEW, told The Washington Post in January 1972, 'Whenever Spanish-speaking students' performance is shown to be markedly lower, a strong case can be made that they are not receiving an equal education.' Teaching children in a language that some understand and others do not was not 'equal', according to Veneman, and Spanish language use and low test scores together could prove the need for remedy."
27. Book: Better Evaluations Needed to Weed Out Useless Federal Advisory Committees . 1977 . United States General Accounting Office . 22 March 2023.
28. News: Patterson . Rachelle . Harvard financial chief Hale Champion named under secretary of HEW . The Boston Globe . January 20, 1977.
29. News: Patterson . Rachelle . Hale Champion resigns from HEW . The Boston Globe . May 17, 1979.
30. Web site: Appointment of John A. Svahn as United States Commissioner on the Commission for the Study of Alternatives to the Panama Canal . Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.
31. Web site: HHS Organizational Directory – Browse . December 12, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20001212230600/http://directory.psc.gov/os/886.html . December 12, 2000.
32. Web site: HHS/OS Organizational Directory (IOS/Office of the Deputy Secretary) – Browse . February 18, 2005 . https://web.archive.org/web/20050218101444/http://directory.psc.gov/os/886.html . February 18, 2005.
33. Web site: HHS – Office of the Deputy Secretary . January 7, 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070107094605/http://www.hhs.gov/agencies/depsec.html . January 7, 2007.
34. Web site: HHS – Office of the Deputy Secretary . April 27, 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070427172602/http://www.hhs.gov/agencies/depsec.html . April 27, 2007.
35. Web site: HHS – Biography of Tevi D. Troy, Deputy Secretary . September 25, 2007.
36. Web site: Presidential Nomination Sent to Senate . July 13, 2015 . . . July 14, 2015.