PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — U.S. Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine was ceremonially sworn in as a four-star admiral on Tuesday, making her the nation’s first openly transgender four-star officer across all of the uniformed services.
Levine served as the Pennsylvania secretary of health from 2017 up until she was tapped by President Joe Biden this past January.
She is now the highest-ranking official in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps and its first-ever female four-star admiral.
The USPHS Commissioned Corps is the first in line to defend the country against public health threats. Levine now leads 6,000 USPHS officers.
“This is a momentous occasion,” Levine said in a statement, “and I am pleased to take this role for the impact I can make, and for the historic nature of what it symbolizes. May this appointment be the first of many like it as we create a more inclusive future.”
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At the ceremony, Levine said she is proud to follow in her family’s footsteps in serving the nation. Her father served in the Air Force during World War II. One of her uncles was in the Army and was stationed in France after D-Day, and another uncle was a member of the Massachusetts National Guard.
“Just as they stepped up to defend our rights to freedom and liberty, I now follow in their storied tradition of service as I step up to defend the health of our nation — especially now, as we face the biggest public health crisis our country and the world has faced in modern times.”
