- Trump has tapped healthcare policy scholar Ge Bai for a senior HHS leadership role
- The Johns Hopkins professor currently serves as HHS’ principal deputy assistant secretary for planning and evaluation
- Mark Cruz was selected to head the Indian Health Service, which provides healthcare to tribal communities
President Trump has nominated Ge Bai to serve as assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services and Mark Cruz to lead the Indian Health Service as director.
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The White House said Monday the nominations were among several executive branch appointments transmitted to the Senate for consideration.
Who Is Ge Bai?
Bai currently serves as principal deputy assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at HHS. She also teaches accounting at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
A healthcare finance and policy specialist, Bai was previously a visiting scholar at the Congressional Budget Office. Her research on pricing, hospital finances and policy has been published in Health Affairs, JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine, and she has testified before Congress.
Bai taught accounting at Washington and Lee University. She is also a certified public accountant.
Who Is Mark Cruz?
Cruz is a senior adviser to HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., focusing on the department’s tribal programs. He previously worked as a senior public affairs strategist at Gallatin Public Affairs and served as deputy assistant secretary for policy and economic development in the Interior Department’s Office of Indian Affairs.
Earlier, Cruz held senior congressional staff roles, including chief of staff to former Rep. Todd Rokita of Indiana, and worked on Indian education policy as a legislative fellow for Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma.
