HARRISBURG, Pa. — A transgender woman named by the governor to serve as Pennsylvania’s physician general has been endorsed by a state legislative committee, clearing the way for the full Senate to vote on her nomination next week.
If she is confirmed, Dr. Rachel Levine, 57, would become the first transgender person to serve as a high-level state official in Pennsylvania history, reports Reuters.
Jonathan Adams, a spokesman for Lambda Legal in New York, said he did not know of any transgender people in high-ranking state government positions throughout the United States.
During her hearing in front of the Senate’s Public Heath and Welfare Committee, Levine was asked no questions about her transgender status.
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She most recently served as the chief of the Division of Adolescent Medicine and Eating Disorders at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, where she also serves as a professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry.