President-elect Joe Biden on Monday announced his picks to lead his health team, hires that are especially key as his administration tackles the coronavirus pandemic. 

Among the nominations and appointments, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has been chosen for Health and Human Services secretary, former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy for the same role, Dr. Rochelle Walensky for director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr. Anthony Fuaci for chief medical adviser to the president on COVID-19. 

“This trusted and accomplished team of leaders will bring the highest level of integrity, scientific rigor, and crisis-management experience to one of the toughest challenges America has ever faced — getting the pandemic under control so that the American people can get back to work, back to their lives, and back to their loved ones,” Biden said in a news release. “This team of world-class medical experts and public servants will be ready on day one to mobilize every resource of the federal government to expand testing and masking, oversee the safe, equitable, and free distribution of treatments and vaccines, re-open schools and businesses safely, lower prescription drug and other health costs and expand affordable health care to all Americans, and rally the country and restore the belief that there is nothing beyond America's capacity if we do it together.”

In addition to serving as California’s attorney general, Becerra, 62, was previously a 12-term congressman. While in the House, he pushed for the Affordable Care Act, and he led the defense of the law in the Supreme Court last month. If confirmed, Becerra would become the first Latino to lead HHS. 

Murthy, 43, was the U.S. surgeon general from 2014-17. Among the health challenges in which he helped lead the national response were the Ebola and Zika viruses. A former vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, Murthy is a longtime Biden adviser and currently serves as co-chair on the president-elect’s COVID-19 advisory board.

If confirmed, Murthy would become the first permanent two-time surgeon general. Kenneth Moritsugu filled the seat twice during the George W. Bush administration, but both times in an acting capacity. 

Walensky is a leading expert on virus testing, prevention and treatment. She is currently the chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School. Among her top accomplishments, Walensky developed pioneering research that helped advance the national and global response to HIV/AIDS.

In addition to being Biden’s lead adviser on the coronavirus pandemic, Fauci, 79, will remain in his role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which he has held since 1984. Fauci has been a public face of the U.S. government’s efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic, although he has often clashed with President Donald Trump and, as a result, been vilified by the president’s supporters due to his blunt warnings about the dangers posed by the virus and the strict measures needed to slow its spread.

Other Biden health picks announced Monday were Yale associate professor Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith as COVID-19 Equity Task Force chair; Jeff Zients, who served in a number of roles during the Obama administration, as coordinator of the COVID-19 response and a counselor to the incoming president; and former White House and Pentagon senior adviser Natalie Quillian as deputy coordinator of the COVID-19 response.