29 April 2009
The Cabinet
Health and Human Services
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
Confirmed April 28
Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius was nominated by President Obama March 2 to serve as secretary of health and human services. Sebelius, who holds a master’s degree in public administration, served for eight years as a representative in the Kansas Legislature and eight years as the state insurance commissioner before being elected governor in 2002. She is the daughter of a former governor, John Gilligan of Ohio.
The Department of Health and Human Services, established 1979
Mission: To enhance the health and well-being of Americans by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering strong, sustained advances in the sciences, underlying medicine, public health and social services.
Staff: More than 64,000 employees
Duties: The department administers more than 300 programs that address public health, social science research, disease surveillance and prevention, and food and drug safety.
History: Originally created as the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1953 under the Eisenhower administration, the department was reorganized in 1979 into the Department of Health and Human Services.
International engagement: The department’s health-related organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, work domestically and through international partnerships to combat a wide range of diseases. The department’s Office of Global Health Affairs represents the United States on international and refugee health issues, and makes related policy recommendations to the secretary and the president.
Fun fact: The department’s headquarters is the 1977 Hubert H. Humphrey Building, the first federal office building named for a person still living at the time of its construction. Humphrey, a former U.S. senator and vice president, died in 1978.
More information: http://www.hhs.gov
