Oveta Culp Hobby (b. 1905 – d. 1995) was the first secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare after having been first commanding officer of the Women’s Army Corps. President Dwight D. Eisenhower named her head of the Federal Security Agency, a non-cabinet post though she was invited to sit in on cabinet meetings. The decision to legalize Jonas Salks Polio vaccine was made by her. On April 11, 1953, she became the first secretary of the new Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. This was her second time to organize a new branch of the government.

Patricia Roberts Harris (b. 1924 – d. 1985) served as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1979. After the Department of Education Organization Act was signed into law on October 17, 1979, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was divided into the separate departments of Health and Human Services and Education. Harris then served as the first Secretary of Health and Human Services until President Carter left office in 1981.

Margaret Mary Heckler (b. 1931) became Secretary of Health and Human Services in 1983. Heckler presided over staffing cuts in the department as part of the administration’s spending reductions and was dispatched as a frequent spokesperson on a wide array of public health issues, including the then-emerging AIDS crisis. She also encouraged President Reagan to support an AIDS awareness initiative, new child support standards, and softer standards for Social Security disability requirements.

Donna Esther Shalala (b. 1941) was appointed by President Clinton as United States Secretary of Health and Human Services in 1993. She directed the welfare reform process, made health insurance available to an estimated 3.3 million children through the approval of all State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP), raised child immunization rates to the highest levels in history, led major reforms of the FDA’s drug approval process and food safety system, revitalized the National Institutes of Health, and directed a major management and policy reform of Medicare.