An official portrait of Adm. Rachel L. Levine displayed in a hallway of the Humphrey Building at the Department of Health and Human Services was altered to show a previous name, HHS confirmed to NPR. Levine, who served as President Biden’s assistant secretary for health and led the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, was the first openly transgender person confirmed by the Senate to that role. Her framed portrait has hung alongside past leaders of the Public Health Service since shortly after her 2021 confirmation.
A digital photograph obtained by NPR shows the printed name inside Levine’s portrait frame changed to an earlier name. Adrian Shanker, Levine’s spokesperson and a former deputy assistant secretary for health policy in the Biden administration, said the modification happened “during the federal shutdown” when current leadership of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health “changed Admiral Levine’s photo to remove her current legal name and use a prior name.” Shanker called the action “an act of bigotry against her.”
Levine told NPR she was honored to serve as assistant secretary for health and declined further comment, characterizing the alteration as petty.
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon issued a statement saying the department prioritizes “ensuring that the information presented internally and externally by HHS reflects gold standard science.” He added the department is “committed to reversing harmful policies enacted by Levine and ensuring that biological reality guides our approach to public health.” The current assistant secretary for health is Adm. Brian Christine, a urologist from Alabama confirmed by the Senate in October.
An HHS employee who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution described the name change as “disrespectful” and said it illustrates what they view as the erasure of transgender people by this administration.
Levine’s photograph has also been used in political attacks: during the 2024 campaign, former President Trump and other Republican groups spent millions on anti-transgender ads that included her image. Since taking office, the administration has enacted policies affecting transgender and intersex people across multiple federal agencies, including Pentagon changes that resulted in separations of transgender service members and revisions to State Department passport policies.
Shanker called the alteration of Levine’s portrait unprecedented and urged current HHS leaders to concentrate on pressing public health priorities rather than targeting her. He highlighted Levine’s public health work on COVID-19, syphilis, HIV/AIDS and the opioid crisis.