Gov.-elect Jeff Landry has chosen former Republican Congressman Dr. Ralph Abraham as secretary for the Louisiana Department of Health. (Julie O’Donoghue/LAI)
Gov. Jeff Landry announced former Congressman Dr. Ralph Abraham will be Louisiana’s first ever surgeon general after serving as the Louisiana Department of Health secretary for six months.
Abraham and a newly appointed health secretary, Michael Harrington, are now expected to run the state health department as co-leaders. Harrington was previously the undersecretary at the agency that reported to Abraham and oversaw the state’s massive Medicaid budget.
Michael Harrington (LDH photo)
At the urging of Landry, Louisiana lawmakers created the new surgeon general position when they passed House Bill 853, sponsored by Rep. Brach Myers, R-Lafayette. Myers said several others states, including Arkansas and California, have recently created surgeon general offices in their state governments as well.
The surgeon general, who must be a medical doctor, is expected to lead public health efforts and set medical guidelines, under the new law, leaving many of the financial and administrative responsibilities of Louisiana’s largest agency to the health secretary.
It’s not clear if all the duties of each position have been worked out yet. When asked who would win out in an argument between the surgeon general and health secretary over how to run the department, Landry replied that he, as the governor, would be the one ultimately responsible for the department’s operations.
It appears Abraham will continue to be the face of the health department however. When asked who should be held responsible for the agency’s response to another pandemic or a botched evacuation of nursing home residents during a hurricane, Abraham responded that he is the person that would be held accountable.
“Now, we will be able to have somebody speaking with one voice, who is a doctor. Because we didn’t always have a doctor in as the secretary,” Landry said. “The secretary’s position is pretty demanding from an administrative standpoint.”
Before joining Congress in 2015, Abraham worked for years as a primary care doctor in rural Northeast Louisiana. He chose not to run again for his U.S. House seat in 2021, after an unsuccessful run for governor against Democrat John Bel Edwards.
Harrington has worked as the chief executive officer and chief operating officer of several nonprofit and for-profit health systems.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more details later.
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