The assistant secretary for health (ASH) is a senior U.S. government official within the

United States Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

(HHS). The position is a statutory office () and the holder of the office serves as the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services's primary advisor on matters involving the nation's public health. The assistant secretary oversees all matters pertaining to the

United States Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services concerned with public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The Assistant ...

(PHS), the main division of the Department of Health and Human Services, for the secretary, and provides strategic and policy direction. The Public Health Service comprises almost all of the agency divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services including the

United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC), also referred to as the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service, is the federal uniformed service of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) and one of the ...

, one of the eight federal uniformed services, comprising more than 6,500 uniformed health professionals who serve with the Department of Health and Human Services, or are assigned to work within other federal agencies, including the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...

. The assistant secretary is a civilian or a uniformed officer of the commissioned corps and is nominated for appointment by the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

. The nominee must also be confirmed via majority by the Senate. The assistant secretary serves a nominal four-year term at the pleasure of the president. If the appointee is also a serving uniformed officer of the commissioned corps, by statute, he or she is appointed as a four-star admiral and is the highest ranking officer in the commissioned corps, as no other position in the Public Health Service is designated as a four-star office. The president may also nominate a civilian appointee to also be appointed a

direct commission A direct commission officer (DCO) is a United States uniformed officer who has received an appointed commission without the typical prerequisites for achieving a commission, such as attending a four-year service academy, a four-year or two-year ...

in the commissioned corps if the nominee so chooses. The assistant secretary's office and its staff make up the

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH) is an operating agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the managing personnel body for the United States Public Health Service. The office is under the directi ...

(OASH). The current assistant secretary for health is Admiral

Rachel Levine Rachel Leland Levine (; born October 28, 1957) is an American pediatrician who has served as the United States assistant secretary for health since March 26, 2021. She is also a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service C ...

History

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs was established on January 1, 1967, following Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1966. The plan allowed the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to restructure the

Public Health Service In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

to better serve public health.
Records of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health ASH The office was renamed the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health following the Department of Education Organization Act in 1972.

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health

As of 2018, the

oversees 12 core public health offices, 10 regional health offices, and 10 presidential and secretarial advisory committees. Prior to 2010, the office was known as the Office of Public Health and Science. US PHS O10 insignia

List of Assistant Secretaries for Health

References

External links

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH)

{{HHS agencies United States Department of Health and Human Services United States Public Health Service *