Xavier Becerra was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to head the Department of Health and Human Services in March 2021. Becerra, the first Latino to lead HHS, oversees all federal health agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, carrying out the Biden administration’s health agenda. He was confirmed in the midst of the COVID pandemic, and helping the country through that challenge has been his top priority. Other key priorities include reducing health care costs, expanding access to care, tackling health disparities, and strengthening behavioral health. Becerra was previously California’s attorney general and before that a Democratic congressman. For more on Becerra’s career in government service, see our Legal Matters Q&A with him in the fall 2011 issue of Stanford Lawyer, as well as his In Focus profile in the spring 2017 issue of Stanford Lawyer.