Assistant Secretary for Health
The assistant secretary for health is a senior U.S. government official within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services who serves as the primary advisor to the secretary of health and human services on matters involving the nation's public health, and provides strategic and policy direction to the Public Health Service agencies and Commissioned Corps.
The position is a statutory Senate-confirmed presidential appointment, who may be a civilian, or a uniformed four-star admiral of the PHS Commissioned Corps and is nominated for appointment by the president. The president may also nominate a civilian appointee to also be appointed a direct commission 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 18th and current assistant secretary for health is Admiral Brian Christine.
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 new position supplanted the surgeon general as the head of the PHS, with all PHS component heads now reporting to the assistant secretary. This was seen as undermining the chain of command of the PHS Commissioned Corps, beginning a long-term shift where Commissioned Corps officers were more responsible to the agencies they were stationed in than to the corps itself.The office was renamed the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health following the Department of Education Organization Act in 1972.
In 1995, supervision of the agencies within PHS was shifted to report directly to the secretary of health and human services. This transformed the assistant secretary for health from a supervisory position in the direct chain of command, into an advisory one.
In 2010, the office's name was changed from Office of Public Health and Science to Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.