Washington D.C. — The official portrait of the former Pennsylvania health secretary who was later tapped to serve under the Biden administration has been changed, according to NPR.
Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman, was appointed by former president Joe Biden in 2021 to be the nation’s assistant health secretary. Her portrait was hung in the Humphrey Building in D.C. after she was confirmed by the Senate as a four-star admiral in charge of the Commissioned Corp of the U.S. Public Health Service in 2021.
During the recent government shutdown, Levine’s name under her portrait was changed to her birth name, NPR reports.
Levine was born male, but transitioned from Richard to Rachel in 2011.
When NPR asked the office of Health and Human Services for a statement, spokesperson Andrew Nixon wrote: “Our priority is ensuring that the information presented internally and externally by HHS reflects gold standard science. We remain committed to reversing harmful policies enacted by Levine and ensuring that biological reality guides our approach to public health.”
A Harvard University graduate, Levine worked at Mount Sinai Medical Center, Penn State College of Medicine and Hershey Medical Center before becoming a top official in the state’s health department.
