On Monday President Obama nominated Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and Director of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, to be the next Secretary of Labor. In his nominating speech, the President called the 51-year old Perez a “consensus builder” and asked the Senate to move on the nomination quickly.
If he is confirmed, he will bring decades of health and civil rights policy work to the position and a passion for public service. Perez, who President Obama noted is the son of Dominican immigrants, would start the new post at a time when there is an ongoing debate in Congress about immigration reform. Perez also served in the Clinton Administration as head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights; under his tenure, HHS published landmark standards governing language access in federally assisted health and human services programs. Prior to his Justice Department appointment in 2009, Perez served as a member of the faculty of the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS). He was appointed to SPHHS in November 2007 as a Geiger Gibson Research Professor in the Department of Health Policy. While at SPHHS, Perez lectured on civil rights and focused his research efforts on access to health care and increasing the diversity of the health professions.
“His work at SPHHS focused on the intersection of civil rights and ensuring access to health care for underserved communities,” said Lynn R. Goldman, MD, MS, MPH, Dean of SPHHS. “We know that he will bring the same level of commitment to his work if he becomes the next Secretary of the Labor Department.”
Perez, who is currently the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, has also served as the Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, which protects consumers through enforcement of laws that provide safeguards for workers and communities. During the final two years of the Clinton Administration, Perez directed the Office for Civil Rights at HHS where he was involved in an effort to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health.
He received a Bachelor’s degree from Brown University, a Master’s of Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School.
About the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services:Established in July 1997, the School of Public Health and Health Services brought together three longstanding university programs in the schools of medicine, business, and education and is now the only school of public health in the nation’s capital. Today, more than 1,100 students from nearly every U.S. state and more than 40 nations pursue undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral-level degrees in public health. http://sphhs.gwu.edu/
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