MADISON, WI (WTAQ) – Wisconsin’s top health official who has led the state throughout the coronavirus pandemic is leaving for a job with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under incoming President Joe Biden.
Andrea Palm, secretary-designee of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, has been nominated as deputy secretary of the federal agency. Palm will work to fulfill Biden’s pledge to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines and speed up the rate of vaccinations.
“She’s done an outstanding job for us. We’ve always felt very, very confident in her work,” Governor Tony Evers said during a press event in Green Bay on Monday. “She’s a consummate public servant. She always worked hard for the people that needed help in the health care world…She will be a real, great addition to the Biden administration. We hate to lose her.”
Palm’s last day at the Wisconsin agency is Wednesday.
Gov. Tony Evers wrote in a statement:
Andrea Palm is a public servant through and through—she’s been a critical part of our administration and a consummate professional who has done an extraordinary job helping lead our state during an unprecedented public health crisis. I know she will continue to serve our country just as she has our state—with empathy, kindness, and tenacity. I wish her our very best as she leaves us to take this new opportunity.
Evers says Karen Timberlake, who served as DHS secretary under former Gov. Jim Doyle during the 2009 swine flu pandemic, will serve as interim secretary.
“There will be really no break. We had a great secretary, we’ll have a great interim secretary moving forward,” Evers said.
