United States Secretary of Health and Human Services

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox official post 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. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the incumbent secretary of health and human services, having held the position since February 13, 2025.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Patricia Roberts Harris headed the department before and after it was renamed.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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,<ref>Template:UnitedStatesCode</ref> thus earning a salary of US$250,600, as of January 2025.<ref name="Salary">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

List of secretaries

Parties

Template:Legend2 (9) Template:Legend2 (15) Template:Legend2 (2)

Status Template:Legend2

Health, education, and welfare

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

Health and human services

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

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)

External links

• Template:Official website
• Department Of Health And Human Services Meeting Notices and Rule Changes Template:Webarchive from The Federal Register RSS Feed