| Val Arkoosh | |
| Office: | Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services |
| Termstart: | January 17, 2023 Acting until June 29, 2023 |
| Predecessor: | Meg Snead (acting) |
| Office1: | Chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners |
| Term Start1: | November 2016 |
| Term End1: | January 17, 2023 |
| Predecessor1: | Josh Shapiro |
| Successor1: | Kenneth E. Lawrence, Jr. |
| Office2: | Member of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners |
| Term Start2: | January 2015 |
| Term End2: | January 17, 2023 |
| Predecessor2: | Leslie Richards |
| Successor2: | Jamila H. Winder |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Education: | Northwestern University University of Nebraska College of Medicine (M.D.) Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (MPH) |
| Residence: | Springfield Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Spouse: | Jeffrey Harbison |
| Children: | 3 |
Valerie A. Arkoosh[1] is an American anesthesiologist and politician who is the current secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, serving since 2023. Arkoosh was formerly the chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners from 2016 to 2023.[2]
Arkoosh earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Northwestern University in 1982 and a doctorate from University of Nebraska College of Medicine in 1986. She earned her Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2007.
She was a professor of clinical anesthesiology and clinical obstetrics and gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania and previously taught at Thomas Jefferson University Sidney Kimmel Medical College and Drexel University College of Medicine, where she chaired the school's anesthesiology department from 1999 to 2004. In 2007, Arkoosh joined the board of the National Physicians Alliance (NPA).[3] From 2010 to 2012, she was president of the NPA as it supported the passage of the Affordable Care Act and healthcare as a human right.[4] Arkoosh also chaired the Board of Health of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2014.
Arkoosh ran for Congress in 2014 for Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district when Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz vacated the seat to run for governor.[5] She was unsuccessful in the Democratic primary.
In January 2015, was appointed to a vacated seat on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. She was elected to a full term the following November. That year she signed a "standing order" allowing pharmacies in the county to dispense naloxone upon request.[6] Arkoosh served as vice chair of the board until November 2016 when she was made chair. She was given a second term as chair in 2020 after being reelected in 2019. As chair, Arkoosh instituted a fifteen dollars per hour minimum wage and paid parental leave for county employees.
On April 5, 2021, Arkoosh launched her campaign for the Democratic nomination for the 2022 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania following the retirement of Pat Toomey.[7] Arkoosh dropped out of the race in February 2022 after receiving just 17 votes of support out of the 290 Pennsylvania Democratic Committeemen.[8] [9]
In January 2023, Arkoosh was nominated by governor-elect Josh Shapiro to serve as secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.[10] She automatically became full secretary on June 29 after the Pennsylvania State Senate failed to act within the constitutionally prescribed 25-legislative-day period to confirm her nomination.[11] In the first year of her leadership, Arkoosh directed the department to eliminate a two-year Medicaid enrollment backlog and increased the coverage for doulas and medicine for homeless people.[12]
Arkoosh lives in Springfield Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Jeffrey Harbison, and their three children.