President
Trump has named former Eli Lilly and Co. executive and former HHS official Alex
Azar as his pick for Health and Human Services Secretary. If confirmed by
the Senate, Alex Azar will oversee a $1 trillion department responsible for
major health insurance programs, medical research, food and drug safety and
public health.
Azar
received his bachelor's degree in government and economics from Dartmouth, and
is a Yale law graduate who once clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice
Antonin Scalia. He served as a top HHS official during the George W. Bush
administration and developed an insider's familiarity with the complex world of
federal health care regulation, serving first as the department's chief lawyer
and later as deputy secretary. Azar spent the last 10 years with Lilly, rising
to president of its key U.S. affiliate before leaving in January to start his
own consulting firm. He's seen as an expert on government health care
regulation.