Alex Michael Azar Jr. is the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. Azar was nominated to his post by President Donald J. Trump on November 13, 2017, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 24, 2018. He was also Chairman of the White House Coronavirus Task Force from its inception in January 2020 to February 2020, when he was replaced by Vice President Mike Pence.
About Alex Azar in brief
Alex Michael Azar Jr. is the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. Azar was nominated to his post by President Donald J. Trump on November 13, 2017, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 24, 2018. He was also Chairman of the White House Coronavirus Task Force from its inception in January 2020 to February 2020, when he was replaced by Vice President Mike Pence. He served as General Counsel of the US Department of health and human services from 2001 to 2005. In 2007, he was hired by Eli Lilly and Company chief executive officer Sidney Taurel to be the company’s top lobbyist and spokesman. In 2009, the company paid USD 415 billion to settle criminal charges regarding its promotion of antipsychotic drug Zyprexa. In 2012, under Azar’s leadership, Eli Lilly was one of three companies accused in a class-action lawsuit of exploiting the price of drugs. He is the son of a retired ophthalmologist who practiced ophthalmology in Salisbury, Maryland, for more than 30 years, and taught at Johns Hopkins Hospital. His grandfather emigrated from Lebanon in the early 20th century. He received a B. A. degree summa cum laude in government and economics from Dartmouth College in 1988. He earned a J. D. degree from Yale Law School in 1991, where he served as a member of the executive committee of the Yale Law Journal. He worked as a law clerk for controversial Judge Alex Kozinski of the U States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1992 to 1993.
From 1994 to 1996, he worked on the first two years of the investigation into the Whitewater controversy. He also served as an Associate Independent Counsel for Ken Starr in the US Office of the Independent Counsel. In April 2009, Azar became Vice President of Eli Lilly USA, the largest division of the drug company. He left the position after the 2008 United States presidential election was won by Democratic Party candidate Barack Obama and the corporation replaced Azar with a Democrat in April 2009. In June 2009, he became President of the Managed Healthcare Services affiliate of the company and its Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico subsidiaries. He resigned in January 2007. In January 2013, he joined the board of directors of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, a large pharmaceutical trade association, as a senior advisor. He has served as the President of Lilly USA since January 2013. In March 2014, he resigned from the Board of Directors of the Managed Healthcare Services affiliate of Eli Lilly USA. In February 2015, he took the position of President of Lilly USA, which was responsible for the company’s entire operations in the United S.C. and Puerto Rico. In August 2015, Azar became the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Lilly USA USA, LLC, the largest division of Eli L Lilly and Company.
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