RFK Jr. has been picked for HHS secretary. Here are the agencies he would oversee

Now that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been picked by President-elect Donald Trump to be secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), the environmental lawyer could oversee a number of government agencies.

During a charity dinner last month in New York City, Trump pledged that Kennedy would “go wild on health” and that Kennedy “wants healthy people, he wants healthy food.”

Many of Kennedy’s health proposals have alarmed doctors and the public health community. Other policy proposals are seen as more reasonable, but public health officials have warned that Kennedy’s exaggerated and sometimes unfounded claims about health risks could erode trust in doctors and health agencies.

Here are some of the agencies and offices that Kennedy would oversee if his nomination is confirmed by the Senate.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The CDC’s mission is to protect public health, alerting Americans about disease and working to prevent them from spreading illnesses.

The agency offers recommendations about vaccines, which often are adopted by states; tracks diseases and illnesses, including threats such as COVID-19 and foodborne illnesses; and provides information and tools to prevent disease, injury or disability.

While the CDC can influence local governments on health policies, it isn’t an enforcement agency and its recommendations are only guidelines. The one power the CDC does have, however, is that it can detain an individual at U.S. ports of entry or set rules on migration into the U.S. to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

The CDC oversees 10 centers including the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and the Global Health Centers.

Food and Drug Administration The FDA reviews the safety and efficacy of medical devices, medicines, and biologics, which are products that include vaccines, blood components and gene therapy.

The agency also regulates the safety of food, cosmetics, devices that emit radiation and tobacco products. It oversees eight centers and offices including the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and the Oncology Center of Excellence.

Kennedy has criticized the FDA and has claimed in interviews there are “entire departments” like the nutrition department that “have to go” because its workers are “not doing their job.”

Kennedy has vowed to crack down on artificial food dyes and remove ultra-processed foods from school lunches, saying that diet can lead to chronic diseases.

“If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags,” he wrote on the social platform X in late October.

National Institutes of Health

The NIH is the nation’s medical research agency, made up of 27 different components, called Institutes or Centers.

Each component focuses on particular diseases or body systems, researching to help prevent diseases and improve health.

Kennedy proposed in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal to devote half of the NIH’s research budget toward “preventive, alternative and holistic approaches to health.”

Office of the Surgeon General

Referred to as the “nation’s doctor,” the surgeon general is tasked with “providing Americans with the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury.”

Indian Health Service

The IHS works to promote public health services to federally recognized tribes of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

ATSDR enters communities exposed to natural or man-made hazardous substances and determines the “public health effects of environmental exposures and to protect people from these exposures.”

Health Resources and Services Administration

The HRSA focuses on providing equitable health care and programs to communities in need, including people with low incomes, people with HIV, pregnant people, children, rural communities, transplant patients and the health workforce.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

SAMHSA is a branch of the HHS with a mission to reduce the impact of substance abuse and mental illness in U.S. communities through public health efforts.

Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response

ASPR works to help medical and public health agencies and workers prepare for, respond to and recover from disaster and public health emergencies.

For example, ASPR was behind the federal government program that mailed free COVID at-home tests to U.S. households.

Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health

ARPA-H’s mission is to invest in breakthrough technologies and platforms to help transform medicine and health “for the benefit of all patients and that cannot readily be accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity.”

The OIG focuses on providing oversight to “promote the economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity” of HHS programs.

Administration for Children and Families

ACF is a division of the HHS that promotes programs including welfare assistance, adoption assistance and other support to promote the economic and social well-being of children and families.

Administration for Community Living

ACL works to help older adults and people with disabilities choose where and with whom they live and participate in their communities.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

CMS administers the Medicare program, the federal health insurance program for those aged 65 and older and those with disabilities.

The agency also works with state programs to administer Medicaid, which is health insurance for those with low incomes, and Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides low-cost coverage to children with families that don’t qualify for Medicaid.