Statement of Research!America President and CEO Mary Woolley on the Confirmation of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra
Research!America commends the Senate’s confirmation of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). At this critical moment, it is more important than ever to fill top health positions including the leadership of a department with over 100 critical programs. If this nation is to turn the tide in the COVID-19 pandemic, we need leaders at the helm who can steer our health systems through a successful vaccination campaign and ensure future pandemics and other societal health threats cannot wreak such havoc on our nation. As we confront a health disparity crisis highlighted and exacerbated by the pandemic, we must work together to find concrete solutions to that longstanding challenge as well as others, including the opioid epidemic and the corrosive impact of antibiotic resistance on first-line medicine. According to a recently commissioned survey from Research!America, 85% of Americans say it is important that President Biden and the new Congress place a higher priority on faster medical progress.
We look forward to working with Secretary Becerra and the entire Biden administration to find solutions to all that ails Americans.