WASHINGTON - President-elect Joe Biden is preparing to pick key members of his Cabinet. As WLVR’s Tyler Pratt reports, one group is lobbying Biden’s team to make Pennsylvania’s top health official the next surgeon general.
Dr. Rachel Levine has been state Secretary of Health since 2017. As a Harvard graduate, pediatrician and one of only a few transgender government health officials in the U.S., she’s lead the state’s coronavirus response.
Ruben Gonzalez says she should be the top spokesperson for public health in the U.S.
"I think there is a value in giving visibility to doctors like Dr. Levine who are kind of unique in their field. Not just because of their demographics and who they are but also because of their expertise," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez heads up the Victory Institute. It’s an LGTBQ advocacy organization which has been advising presidents since the Clinton Administration. He says appointments like this can really move the needle.
"We also know that when people know LGBTQ people it makes them more open to supporting our equality."
Gonzalez says he has been in contact with Levine, but she hasn’t said if she’s talked to Biden about the role. For now, she says she’s laser-focused on Pennsylvania’s coronavirus pandemic.
