Kevin L. Thurm
Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services
(Clinton Administration)

Kevin L. Thurm became Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on Aug. 30, 1996.

HHS is the federal government's principal agency for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services, especially for those who are least able to help themselves. The Department includes some 300 programs, covering a wide spectrum of activities, including medical and social science research, preventing outbreak of infectious disease, assuring food and drug safety, Medicare and Medicaid, financial assistance for low-income families, Head Start, substance abuse treatment and prevention and services for older Americans. The Department's budget in Fiscal Year 2000 is $387 billion.

As Deputy Secretary, Thurm works closely with HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala on all major policy and management issues, and he serves as the Department's chief operating officer. Additionally, Thurm chairs the HHS Union-Management Partnership Council, and leads several Departmental initiatives, including the implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act and the National Organ and Tissue Donation Initiative, and he chairs the Department's Minority Initiatives Steering Committee (the Hispanic Agenda for Action, the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Initiative, the Tribal Colleges and Universities Initiative and the Asian American Pacific Islander Initiative). Moreover, Thurm leads the development and implementation of six cross-cutting Secretarial Initiatives.

The Deputy Secretary is also helping to lead some major cross-cutting federal initiatives. He serves as the HHS representative on the President's Management Council. Thurm chaired the Health Care sector of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, leading successful efforts across health-related agencies to ensure all medical facilities and devices were prepared for the January 1, 2000 rollover.

Beginning January 1993, Thurm served as HHS Chief of Staff. In addition to coordinating HHS activities and issues and serving as a principal advisor to Secretary Shalala, Thurm served as the central point of liaison between the Department and the White House. As the Department's Regulatory Policy Officer, Thurm played a key role in setting the Department's regulatory agenda and reviewing all regulations issued by the Secretary.

Thurm, who is a former Rhodes Scholar, received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University in 1983, B.A./M.A. degree from Oxford University in 1986 and a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 1989.

From 1989-1991, he was an associate with the New York Law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel. He also worked as a legislative assistant in the Massachusetts state legislature in 1983-84.