On Tuesday, Joe Biden, then president-elect, nominated Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine to serve as the new assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Levine’s nomination is historic: If confirmed by the Senate, she would become the highest-ranking openly transgender government official in US history.

In her new role, Levine would run the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health (OASH), which oversees the nation’s public health policy. She will be a key administration figure as the White House tackles the deepening Covid-19 pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 400,000 Americans. But she will also play an important role in rolling back a host of Trump-era policies in reproductive, adolescent, and LGBTQ health. As a trained pediatrician with a history of supporting evidence-based adolescent health and who has spoken about her own closeted trans youth, her appointment marks a sea change from the right-wing political activists appointed to OASH under Trump.

Because of the historic nature of Levine’s appointment, there has been much talk about her trans identity. Meanwhile, her qualifications, which should not be overshadowed, have taken a back seat. For the last three years, she’s been the secretary of health for Pennsylvania, where she has taken the lead on the state’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Her clear-eyed press conferences instructing Pennsylvanians on how to survive the pandemic have earned praise from Democrats inside the state. Before she became the secretary of health, she was the state’s physician general. Read more via Vox