• agent_flounder@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Pictured in OP in the upper left is: Assistant Secretary for Health, Admiral Rachael L. Levine, MD..

    Her clinical and public health work has helped people dealing with a range of medical issues, including eating disorders, the opioid crisis, and COVID-19

    • graduated from Harvard College in 1979
    • Graduated Tulane University School of Medicine in 1983
    • Chief resident in her final year
    • Held staff positions at Mount Sinai and Lenox Hill
    • Worked in private practice in New York City until 1993
    • She specialized in the treatment of adolescents suffering from eating disorders
    • In 1993, Levine accepted a job on the faculty at the Penn State College of Medicine
    • Director of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the Poly-Clinic Medical Center
    • In 1996, Director of Pediatric Ambulatory Services and the Director of Adolescent Medicine at Penn State Hershey Medical Center
    • Transitioned fully by 2011
    • Worked with the administration to craft the “Levine Policy” that included gender identity and expression as protected categories.
    • Levine, previously the faculty advisor for the LGBTQ student group, became the diversity office’s liaison for LGBTQ affairs and helped the medical center establish itself as a more welcoming environment for members of the LGBTQ community.
    • joined the board of Equality Pennsylvania, a state-wide LGBTQ rights group, as well as her regional Stonewall Democrats group (an LGBT caucus).
    • When Democratic candidate Tom Wolf won the election for governor of Pennsylvania in 2014, Levine was asked to serve as co-chair for his Transition Committee for Health.
    • January 2015, Governor-elect Wolf appointed Levine Physician General of Pennsylvania and she was unanimously confirmed by the Pennsylvania state senate.
    • Kept her faculty appointment at Penn State but gave up her clinical duties to work with the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
    • named Pennsylvania Secretary of Health in March 2018,
    • As Physician General and Penn Sec of Health, Levine worked to provide greater access to healthcare for the LGBTQ community.
    • Also sought to improve maternal health and childhood immunization rates.
    • Her main focus was the opioid crisis in Pennsylvania.
    • Levine issued an order that let Pennsylvanians buy Naloxone without a prescription and allowed law enforcement to carry it, preventing many overdose deaths
    • President Joseph R. Biden nominated Levine to serve as the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
    • Confirmed by the Senate in March 2021 by a vote of 58-42
    • She is the first openly transgender official to be confirmed by the Senate
    • She is also the highest-ranking openly transgender official in U.S. history.

    Having read about her, I think she is awesome and a fantastic choice!

    #🏳️‍⚧️

    • ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Yes, managing ones own health and managing policy and resources relating to health are different things. She seams more than qualified to me. I wish Florida had someone half as competent as Surgeon General.

      • dlpkl@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        So what you’re saying is that this person is aware of the risks of obesity and doesn’t care, or doesn’t take the risks of obesity seriously. Either should make them ineligible to decide for other people’s health.

        • ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          I’m saying that some people have one set of skills that is distinct from another. If they can help others, we should let them, regardless of whether they can help themselves. There’s far more to public health policy than knowing what diet is good for you. Besides knowing what diet is good for you and eating that diet yourself are very different.

          • dlpkl@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            My bad, I meant to reply to someone else actually.

            But to your point, what I’m saying is that you should practice what you preach, just as I wouldn’t take Trump’s advice on how to be a business man, I won’t trust an unhealthy person on how to be healthy.