Dr. Rachel L. Levine is a 63-year-old pediatrician who was head of the Pennsylvania Department of Health from 2017 till early 2021. President Joe Biden has tapped her to be the Assistant Secretary of Health in his administration. Dr. Levine, who also is a professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine, previously served as the Pennsylvania physician general from 2015 to 2017. Oh… and by the way, she is a transgender woman and will be the first trans person to hold a high post in the U.S. federal government.
Quote: ” “People fear what they don’t understand, and obviously they have a heightened sense of fear and anxiety given the uncertainties of our times. I hope that by being a public figure and being [Pennsylvania] secretary of health during this public health crisis, that that educates people about LGBTQ individuals and transgender individuals — and if they are educated, then they fear less. Thus, they get less angry, and thus, they hate less.”
Sources: Wikipedia, NBCNews.com
Learn more about Dr. Rachel Levine on Wikipedia. >>
Read “Pennsylvania’s top doc is ‘calm in the eye of the COVID-19 storm’ ” >>
Watch “PA Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine’s Keynote at Bloomberg American Health Initiative 2020” [5:53]. >>
Photo: Pennsylvania Magazine
