United States Secretary of Health and Human Services

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". 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 health matters. The secretary is a member of the United States Cabinet. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the incumbent secretary of health and human services, having held the position since February 13, 2025.[1]

The office was formerly known as the secretary of health, education, and welfare. In 1980, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was renamed to 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 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. The secretary of health and human services is a level I position in the Executive Schedule,[5] thus earning a salary of US$250,600, as of January 2025.[6]

Duties

File:Flag of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.png
The flag of the secretary of health, education, and welfare, the predecessor to the current office

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.[7]

The Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) was reorganized into a Department of Education and a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

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).[8]

List of secretaries

Parties
  1. REDIRECT Template:Legend inline (9)
  2. REDIRECT Template:Legend inline (15)
  3. REDIRECT Template:Legend inline (2)

Status

  1. REDIRECT Template:Legend inline

Health, Education, and Welfare

No. Portrait Name State of residence Took office Left office President(s)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />1 File:Hobby-Oveta-Culp.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Texas April 11, 1953 July 31, 1955 rowspan=3 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(1953–1961)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />2 File:Folsom.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". New York August 2, 1955 July 31, 1958
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />3 File:ArthurSFlemming.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Ohio August 1, 1958 January 19, 1961
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />4 File:Ribicoff.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Connecticut January 21, 1961 July 13, 1962 rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(1961–1963)
rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />5 File:Celebrez.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Ohio July 31, 1962 August 17, 1965
rowspan=3 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(1963–1969)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />6 File:John W. Gardner, U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". California August 18, 1965 March 1, 1968
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />7 File:Wilburportrait.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Michigan May 16, 1968 January 20, 1969
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />8 File:Robert Finch, 1967.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". California January 21, 1969 June 23, 1970 rowspan=3 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(1969–1974)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />9 File:ElliotLeeRichardson.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Massachusetts June 24, 1970 January 29, 1973
rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />10 File:Caspar Weinberger official photo.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". California February 12, 1973 August 8, 1975
rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(1974–1977)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />11 File:F. David Mathews.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Alabama August 8, 1975 January 20, 1977
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />12 File:Swearing-in of Joseph Califano, Secretary of HEW - NARA - 173478 (cropped).tif Script error: No such module "Sort". District of Columbia January 25, 1977 August 3, 1979 rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(1977–1981)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />13 File:Patricia R. Harris official portrait.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". District of Columbia August 3, 1979 May 4, 1980[9]

Health and Human Services

No. Portrait Name State of residence Took office Left office President(s)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />13 File:Patricia R. Harris official portrait.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". District of Columbia May 4, 1980[9] January 20, 1981 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(1977–1981)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />14 File:Secretary Richard Schweiker.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Pennsylvania January 22, 1981 February 3, 1983 rowspan=4 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(1981–1989)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />15 File:Mmheckler.JPG Script error: No such module "Sort". Massachusetts March 10, 1983 December 13, 1985
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />16 File:Otis R. Bowen.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Indiana December 13, 1985 March 1, 1989
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />17 File:SullivanLouis.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Georgia March 1, 1989 January 20, 1993 Script error: No such module "Sort".
(1989–1993)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />18 File:Shalala portrait.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Wisconsin January 22, 1993 January 20, 2001 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(1993–2001)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />19 File:Tommy Thompson 1.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Wisconsin February 2, 2001 January 26, 2005 rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(2001–2009)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />20 File:Mike Leavitt.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Utah January 26, 2005 January 20, 2009
<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />– File:JohnsonCharlesE.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Utah January 20, 2009 April 28, 2009 rowspan=3 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(2009–2017)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />21 File:Kathleen Sebelius official portrait (cropped).jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Kansas April 28, 2009 June 9, 2014
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />22 File:Sylvia Mathews Burwell official portrait (cropped).jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". West Virginia June 9, 2014 January 20, 2017
<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />– File:Norris Cochran (cropped).jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Florida January 20, 2017 February 10, 2017 rowspan=5 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(2017–2021)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />23 File:Tom Price official photo (cropped).jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Georgia February 10, 2017 September 29, 2017
<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />– File:Don J. Wright official portrait (cropped).jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Virginia September 29, 2017 October 10, 2017
<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />– File:Eric D. Hargan official photo (cropped).jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Illinois October 10, 2017 January 29, 2018
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />24 File:Alex Azar official portrait (cropped).jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Indiana January 29, 2018 January 20, 2021
<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />– File:Norris Cochran (cropped).jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Florida January 20, 2021 March 19, 2021 rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(2021–2025)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />25 File:HHS Xavier Becerra (cropped).jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". California March 19, 2021 January 20, 2025
<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />– File:Dorothy-Fink.jpg Script error: No such module "Sort". Pennsylvania January 20, 2025 February 13, 2025 rowspan=2 style="background: Template:Party color;" | Script error: No such module "Sort".
(2025–present)
style="background: Template:Party color;" |<templatestyles src="Template:Color/styles.css" />26 File:Robert F. Kennedy Jr., official portrait (2025) (cropped 3-4).jpg Robert F. Kennedy Jr. California February 13, 2025 Incumbent

Line of succession

The line of succession for the secretary of health and human services is as follows:[10]

  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)

References

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  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ a b Harris was Secretary on May 4, 1980, when the office changed names from Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to Secretary of Health and Human Services. Because the department merely changed names, she did not need to be confirmed again, and her term continued uninterrupted.
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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External links

U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Order of precedence of the United States
as Secretary of Health and Human ServicesScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
U.S. presidential line of succession
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check 12th in line Template:S-ttl/check Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by

Script error: No such module "navboxes". Template:USSecHHS Template:HHS agencies Script error: No such module "Navbox". Template:US presidential line of successionScript error: No such module "navboxes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

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