United States Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services
Seal of the Department
Incumbent
Andrea Palm
since May 12, 2021
United States Department of Health and Human Services
StyleMadam Deputy Secretary (informal)
The Honorable (formal)
Reports toSecretary of Health and Human Services
SeatHubert H. Humphrey Building, Washington, D.C.
AppointerPresident of the United States
with Senate advice and consent
Term lengthNo fixed term
PrecursorUnder Secretary of Health and Human Services
FormationAugust 1990
First holderConstance Horner
SalaryExecutive Schedule, level II
Websitewww.hhs.gov

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.[1]

The deputy secretary is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.[2] The deputy secretary is paid at level II of the Executive Schedule.[3] The deputy secretary is assisted by a principal associate deputy secretary of health and human services, two associate deputy secretaries, and three staff assistants.[4] 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.[2]

List

Assistant secretary of health, education, and welfare

Image Name Took office Left office President served under References
Jane Morrow Spaulding April 1953 January 1954 Dwight D. Eisenhower [5][6]

Under secretaries of health, education, and welfare

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2011)
Image Name Took office Left office President served under References
Nelson Rockefeller June 1953 December 1954 Dwight D. Eisenhower [7]
Vacant December 1954 September 1955 [8]
Herold Christian Hunt September 1955 February 1957 [9]
Vacant February 1957 April 1957 [10]
John Alanson Perkins April 1957 March 1958 [11][12]
Vacant March 7, 1958 March 18, 1958 [13]
Bertha Adkins March 1958 January 1961 [14][15]
Ivan Arnold Nestingen January 1961 May 1965 John F. Kennedy [16][17][18]
Lyndon B. Johnson
Wilbur J. Cohen June 1965 May 1968 [19]
Vacant May 1968 July 1968 [20]
James H. McCrocklin July 1968 January 1969 [21][22][23]
Vacant January 1969 March 1969 Richard Nixon [24]
John Veneman March 1969 January 1973 [25][26][27]
Frank Carlucci January 1973 January 1975
Gerald Ford [28]
Marjorie Lynch November 1975 January 1977
Gerald Ford [28]
Hale Champion January 1977 June 1979
Jimmy Carter [29][30]

Under secretaries of health and human services

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2011)
Image Name Took office Left office President served under References
John A. Svahn March 1983 September 1983 Ronald Reagan [31]
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

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2011)
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 [32]
Claude Allen May 26, 2001 January 22, 2005 George W. Bush [33]
Alex Azar January 22, 2005 February 4, 2007 [34]
Eric Hargan (acting) February 4, 2007 August 5, 2007 [35]
Tevi Troy August 5, 2007 January 20, 2009 [1]
Bill Corr May 6, 2009 April 2015 Barack Obama [36]
Mary Katherine Wakefield (acting) April 2015 January 20, 2017 [36]
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

References

  1. ^ a b "HHS – Biography of Tevi D. Troy, Deputy Secretary". Retrieved September 25, 2007.
  2. ^ a b "US CODE: Title 42,3501. Establishment of Department; effective date". Retrieved September 25, 2007.
  3. ^ "US CODE: Title 5,5313. Positions at level II". Retrieved September 25, 2007.
  4. ^ "HHS/OS Organizational Directory (IOS/Office of the Deputy Secretary) – Browse". Retrieved September 25, 2007.
  5. ^ 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."
  6. ^ 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."
  7. ^ 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".
  8. ^ A common thread of Service, p. 43. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Vacancy December 23, 1954 – September 11, 1955".
  9. ^ A common thread of Service, p. 43. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Herold C. Hunt September 12, 1955 – February 4, 1957".
  10. ^ A common thread of Service, p. 43. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Vacancy February 5, 1957 – April 4, 1957".
  11. ^ A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "John A.Perkins April 5, 1957 – March 6, 1958".
  12. ^ "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".
  13. ^ A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Vacancy March 7, 1958 – March 18, 1958".
  14. ^ A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Bertha S. Atkins March 19, 1958 – January 19, 1961".
  15. ^ 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."
  16. ^ A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Ivan A. Nestingen January 21, 1961 – May 31, 1965".
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ 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".
  19. ^ A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Wilbur J. Cohen June 1, 1965 – May 16, 1968".
  20. ^ A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Vacancy May 17, 1968 – July 14, 1968".
  21. ^ A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "James H. McCrocklin July 15, 1968 – January 20, 1969".
  22. ^ Time Magazine article, L.B.J. : Lengthening Shadows, originally published June 28, 1968. "When the President fills vacant posts, appointments have an odor of the payoff. James McCrocklin, new Under Secretary of HEW, is a former president of Southwest Texas State College, which boasts one really distinguished alumnus, named Johnson."
  23. ^ "The inauguration of James Henry McCrocklin as fourth president of Southwest Texas State Teachers College" 1964). The title offers the full name of McCrocklin.
  24. ^ A common thread of Service, p. 44. Lists holders of the position of Under Secretary. "Vacancy January 21, 1969 – March 5, 1969".
  25. ^ 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
  26. ^ 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".
  27. ^ 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."
  28. ^ a b Better Evaluations Needed to Weed Out Useless Federal Advisory Committees. United States General Accounting Office. 1977. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  29. ^ Patterson, Rachelle (January 20, 1977). "Harvard financial chief Hale Champion named under secretary of HEW". The Boston Globe.
  30. ^ Patterson, Rachelle (May 17, 1979). "Hale Champion resigns from HEW". The Boston Globe.
  31. ^ "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.
  32. ^ "HHS Organizational Directory – Browse". Archived from the original on December 12, 2000. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
  33. ^ "HHS/OS Organizational Directory (IOS/Office of the Deputy Secretary) – Browse". Archived from the original on February 18, 2005. Retrieved February 18, 2005.
  34. ^ "HHS – Office of the Deputy Secretary". Archived from the original on January 7, 2007. Retrieved January 7, 2007.
  35. ^ "HHS – Office of the Deputy Secretary". Archived from the original on April 27, 2007. Retrieved April 27, 2007.
  36. ^ a b "Presidential Nomination Sent to Senate". whitehouse.gov. July 13, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015 – via National Archives.

Sources

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