By Jeff Overley

Law360 (March 24, 2021, 5:35 PM EDT ) Dr. Rachel L. Levine, one of President Joe Biden's top health care nominees, on Wednesday blazed an important trail for the LGBTQ community by becoming the first openly transgender individual to win U.S. Senate confirmation to a federal post.

On a 52-48 vote, the Senate elevated Levine to the position of assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The position has significant responsibility for managing the coronavirus crisis, and supervises HHS divisions that aim to protect participants in clinical trials, promote good nutrition and curb the spread of infectious diseases.

Biden in January announced the nomination of Levine, at the time Pennsylvania's health secretary, and hailed her as "a historic and deeply qualified choice" for the HHS post.

"Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability," the president said at the time.

The entire Democratic caucus voted in favor of Levine, as did Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Wednesday's vote, while close, wasn't as narrow as the 50-49 vote last week to confirm California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as HHS secretary.

Social media was abuzz with excitement in the run-up to Wednesday's vote. On Twitter, transgender rights groups — including Lambda Legal and the National Center for Transgender Equality — trumpeted her looming ascent by using the hashtag #ConfirmDrLevine.

The Senate's vote occurred amid a national conversation over transgender rights. That conversation has often featured right-leaning voices objecting to transgender females participating in female sports leagues or fretting about minors transitioning physically in accordance with their gender identity.

"At a time when hateful politicians are weaponizing trans lives for their own perceived political gain, Dr. Levine's confirmation lends focus to the contributions trans people make to our nation and deflates absurd arguments calling for their exclusion," Annise Parker, head of the LGBTQ Victory Institute, which works to elevate LGBTQ public leaders, said in a Wednesday statement.

Levine's new post gained an especially high profile last year as then-HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir served as the nation's testing czar for COVID-19 and became a familiar face of the Trump administration's pandemic response.

Levine's confirmation process was not without controversy. During a hearing last month at the Senate health committee, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., used his questioning time to compare gender transition therapies to female genital mutilation, prompting the panel's Democratic chair to rebuke him for "ideological and harmful misrepresentations."

A graduate of Harvard College and the Tulane School of Medicine, Levine trained at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City before moving to Pennsylvania. In the Keystone State, Levine worked at the Penn State College of Medicine before state lawmakers confirmed her to serve as secretary of health. Levine's areas of professional focus include opioid abuse, eating disorders and adolescent medicine and psychiatry, according to her prepared Senate testimony.

--Additional reporting by Britain Eakin. Editing by Marygrace Murphy.

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.