New Delhi, Dec. 6 -- Adm. Rachel Levine - whose official portrait at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was recently altered amid a politically charged move by current leadership - is one of the most prominent public health officials in recent US history and the highest-ranking openly transgender federal official.

The change was first reported by NPR.

Levine's portrait hangs in a hallway on the seventh floor of the Humphrey Building, where photographs of past leaders of the US. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps are displayed. Levine, who served as assistant secretary for health from 2021 to 2025, is the first openly transgender four-star officer in any US uniformed service. ...