Stuart M. Gerson, Member of the Firm in the Litigation and Health Care & Life Sciences practices, in the firm’s Washington, DC, and New York offices, was quoted in Law360, in “Calif. AG Becerra Selected to Head HHS in Biden Era,” by Adam Lidgett. (Read the full version – subscription required.)

Following is an excerpt:

President-elect Joe Biden has officially tapped California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and several sources told Law360 that if he's confirmed, Becerra's experience as the Golden State's top cop and as a member of a key House committee is expected to help him hit the ground running in the new role.

In a Monday statement, Biden officially announced various nominations and appointments, including Becerra as his HHS secretary. Becerra's nomination came at the same time as others, including Vivek Murthy as surgeon general, Rochelle Walensky as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others.

"This team of world-class medical experts and public servants will be ready on day one to mobilize every resource of the federal government to expand testing and masking, oversee the safe, equitable and free distribution of treatments and vaccines, re-open schools and businesses safely, lower prescription drug and other health costs and expand affordable health care to all Americans, and rally the country and restore the belief that there is nothing beyond America's capacity if we do it together," Biden said in a statement. …

Stuart Gerson, an Epstein Becker Green member, also said Becerra's history would allow for HHS to be run smoothly.

"With the prospective nomination of Xavier Becerra, Biden is seeking to have the complex DHHS organization run by a person with broad administrative and policy scope and, most of all, as an alumnus of the Congress, with the background and respect necessary to deal effectively with the legislature on issues like the ACA, pandemic financial and drug delivery response," Gerson said.

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