Dr. Dorothy Fink Appointed as Acting HHS Secretary
Dr. Dorothy Fink, Acting HHS Secretary
On January 20, 2025, President Trump appointed Dr. Dorothy Fink as Acting Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Dr. Fink is board-certified in endocrinology, internal medicine, and pediatrics and a nationally certified menopause practitioner and expert on estrogen, diabetes, and bone health. Dr. Fink has practiced at the Hospital for Special Surgery, New York Presbyterian Hospital, and Cornell University.
Dr. Fink was appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Women’s Health during the previous Trump Administration in 2018 and has served for several years as Director of the HHS’ Office on Women’s Health, where she has led a wide-ranging collaborative effort with hospitals to improve maternal health. Fink takes over the $1.7 trillion government agency from President Biden’s HHS Secretary, Xavier Becerra.
Following her appointment, Fink issued a statement confirming some of the priorities of the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights regarding the protection of rights of conscience and religious freedom and state funding of abortion procedures. OCR has been instructed to reevaluate regulations and guidance pertaining to Federal laws on conscience and religious exercise, and all programs, regulations, and guidance are being reviewed to ensure that Federal funds are not being used to pay for or to promote elective abortion.
Fink also took the opportunity to confirm that the HHS is celebrating the United States rejoining the Geneva Consensus Declaration on Promoting Women’s Health and Strengthening the Family. The Declaration is based on four pillars: better health for women; the preservation of human life; the strengthening of the family as the foundational unit of society; and protecting every nation’s national sovereignty.
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Trump’s nominee for HHS Secretary, RFK Jr., is still awaiting Senate confirmation. His confirmation hearings have yet to be scheduled and are not expected to take place until at least the end of the month. While RFK Jr. is supported by many Senators, he has also faced strong bipartisan criticism for his views on vaccines, reproductive healthcare, and other issues, and has frequently promoted debunked claims and conspiracy theories about several health issues.
He has publicly stated that he plans to fire hundreds of career staffers at the HHS, especially at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), and has promised a major shakeup at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which he holds in extremely low regard. Sen. Elizabeth Warren recently wrote to RFK Jr. and posed 175 questions about his views, and the direction the HHS would take under his leadership should he receive confirmation.
He has stated his intention to “give infectious disease a break for about eight years,” and plans to shift federal funding from infectious disease to chronic disease and obesity. Supporters welcome RFK’s commitment to ensuring transparency in the U.S. health system, his criticism of big pharma which prioritizes profits over human health, his commitment to bringing down the costs of drug prices for Americans, and his focus on healthy food and food safety reform to improve the health of Americans. The Senate Finance Committee advanced RFK Jr. after a 14-13 vote along party lines on February 4, 2025, and he now faces a full Senate vote before being confirmed as HHS Secretary.
Anthony Archeval has been appointed Acting Director of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Archeval has previously served as Director of the Office of Civil Rights, Diversity and Inclusion (OCRDI) at the Health Resources and Services Administration. Archeval is a former Department of Justice trial attorney and has served as the Deputy Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Officer at the Department of Homeland Security.
