| Post: | United States Secretary |
| Body: | Health and Human Services |
| Flag: | Flag of the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.svg |
| Flagborder: | yes |
| Flagsize: | 130 |
| Flagcaption: | Flag of the secretary |
| Insignia: | US Department of Health and Human Services seal.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 120 |
| Insigniacaption: | Seal of the department |
| Incumbent: | Xavier Becerra |
| Incumbentsince: | March 19, 2021 |
| Acting: | no |
| Department: | United States Department of Health and Human Services |
| Style: | Mr. Secretary (informal) The Honorable (formal) |
| Member Of: | the United States Cabinet |
| Reports To: | President of the United States |
| Seat: | Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Washington, D.C. |
| Appointer: | President of the United States |
| Appointer Qualified: | with Senate advice and consent |
| Termlength: | At the President's Pleasure |
| Constituting Instrument: | Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1953 |
| First: | Oveta Culp Hobby |
| Succession: | Twelfth[1] |
| Deputy: | United States Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services |
| Salary: | Executive Schedule, Level I |
The United States secretary of health and human services is the head of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all health matters. The secretary is a member of the United States Cabinet. The office was formerly Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. In 1980, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was renamed the Department of Health and Human Services, and its education functions and Rehabilitation Services Administration were transferred to the new United States Department of Education.[2] Patricia Roberts Harris headed the department before and after it was renamed.[3]
Nominations to the office of Secretary of HHS are referred to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the United States Senate Committee on Finance, which has jurisdiction over Medicare and Medicaid,[4] before confirmation is considered by the full United States Senate.
Secretary of Health and Human Services is a level I position in the Executive Schedule, thus earning a salary of US$221,400, as of January 2021.[5]
Xavier Becerra has served as the 25th United States secretary of health and human services since March 19, 2021, the first person of Hispanic descent to hold the post.
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. The secretary 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.[6]
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).
The Department of Health and Human Services oversees 11 agencies including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).[7]
Status
Health, education, and welfare | |||||||
| No. | Portrait | Name | State of residence | Took office | Left office | President(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oveta Culp Hobby | Texas | April 11, 1953 | July 31, 1955 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | |||
| Marion B. Folsom | New York | August 2, 1955 | July 31, 1958 | ||||
| Arthur S. Flemming | Ohio | August 1, 1958 | January 19, 1961 | ||||
| Abraham A. Ribicoff | Connecticut | January 21, 1961 | July 13, 1962 | John F. Kennedy | |||
| Anthony J. Celebrezze | Ohio | July 31, 1962 | August 17, 1965 | ||||
| Lyndon B. Johnson | |||||||
| John W. Gardner | California | August 18, 1965 | March 1, 1968 | ||||
| Wilbur J. Cohen | Michigan | May 16, 1968 | January 20, 1969 | ||||
| Robert H. Finch | California | January 21, 1969 | June 23, 1970 | Richard Nixon | |||
| Elliot L. Richardson | Massachusetts | June 24, 1970 | January 29, 1973 | ||||
| Caspar Weinberger | California | February 12, 1973 | August 8, 1975 | ||||
| Gerald Ford | |||||||
| F. David Mathews | Alabama | August 8, 1975 | January 20, 1977 | ||||
| Joseph A. Califano Jr. | District of Columbia | January 25, 1977 | August 3, 1979 | Jimmy Carter | |||
| Patricia Roberts Harris | District of Columbia | August 3, 1979 | May 4, 1980[8] | ||||
Health and human services | |||||||
| No. | Portrait | Name | State of residence | Took office | Left office | President(s) | |
| Patricia Roberts Harris | District of Columbia | May 4, 1980 | January 20, 1981 | Jimmy Carter | |||
| Richard S. Schweiker | Pennsylvania | January 22, 1981 | February 3, 1983 | Ronald Reagan | |||
| Margaret M. Heckler | Massachusetts | March 10, 1983 | December 13, 1985 | ||||
| Otis R. Bowen | Indiana | December 13, 1985 | March 1, 1989 | ||||
| Louis W. Sullivan | Georgia | March 1, 1989 | January 20, 1993 | George H. W. Bush | |||
| Donna Shalala | Wisconsin | January 22, 1993 | January 20, 2001 | Bill Clinton | |||
| Tommy G. Thompson | Wisconsin | February 2, 2001 | January 26, 2005 | George W. Bush | |||
| Michael O. Leavitt | Utah | January 26, 2005 | January 20, 2009 | ||||
| Charles E. Johnson | Utah | January 20, 2009 | April 28, 2009 | Barack Obama | |||
| Kathleen Sebelius | Kansas | April 28, 2009 | June 9, 2014 | ||||
| Sylvia Mathews Burwell | West Virginia | June 9, 2014 | January 20, 2017 | ||||
| Norris Cochran | Florida | January 20, 2017 | February 10, 2017 | Donald Trump | |||
| Tom Price | Georgia | February 10, 2017 | September 29, 2017 | ||||
| Don J. Wright | Virginia | September 29, 2017 | October 10, 2017 | ||||
| Eric Hargan | Illinois | October 10, 2017 | January 29, 2018 | ||||
| Alex Azar | Indiana | January 29, 2018 | January 20, 2021 | ||||
| Norris Cochran | Florida | January 20, 2021 | March 19, 2021 | Joe Biden | |||
| Xavier Becerra | California | March 19, 2021 | Incumbent | ||||
The line of succession for the secretary of health and human services is as follows:[9]
Marcia Fudge