Alex Azar II is the new director of Health and Human Services (HHS).

He was sworn in earlier today following a Senate confirmation vote of 55-43 last week. Azar is the second HHS secretary after Dr. Tom Price, who resigned last September after weeks of controversy regarding his use of private jets paid for by tax dollars.

Azar II served in HHS under the George W. Bush administration and was the head of the American division of Eli Lilly, a major pharmaceutical company.

As head of HHS, he oversees the parent organization of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), which is regulating premium cigars and involved in multiple lawsuits with the cigar industry about said regulation.

Image via Wwsgconnect CC BY-SA 4.0 Wikimedia Commons.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.