Azar Sworn in as Health Secretary

Alex Azar ’91 was sworn in as Secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Department on January 29, 2018.

From 2012 to early 2017, Azar was the president of Lilly USA, a unit of Eli Lilly and Company, the global drug maker based in Indiana. After graduating from Yale Law School, he served as a law clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court and then joined a law firm in Washington, D.C.

During the George W. Bush presidency, Azar served as General Counsel of HHS. At the end of President Bush’s first term, he was asked to stay on as Deputy Secretary of HHS, the number two official and chief operating officer of the department.

As Secretary, Azar will be in charge of overseeing more than a trillion dollars a year in spending on medical insurance coverage for about one-third of all Americans.

Azar has remained involved with the Law School over the years. Most recently, he spoke on a 2016 reunion panel about the future of the Affordable Care Act.