Alex J. Adams

Alex J. Adams, PharmD, MPH, serves as Assistant Secretary for Family Support, leading the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He was nominated to lead the agency by President Donald J. Trump and was confirmed on October 7, 2025, by a vote of the U.S. Senate. 

Assistant Secretary Adams brings years of health, human services, education, and regulatory expertise to advance President Trump and Secretary Kennedy’s broader vision to Make American Healthy Again. Prior to leading ACF, Dr. Adams spent more than ten years in Idaho State Government, most notably as Governor Brad Little’s budget and regulatory director and state Department of Health & Welfare director. In these capacities, he oversaw the state’s first upgrade to a AAA credit rating with both Fitch Ratings and Moody’s. Dr. Adams led the Governor’s zero-based regulation initiative, which resulted in Idaho becoming the least regulated state in the nation. He also made significant efforts to improve Idaho’s child welfare system, enacting kin-specific licensing standards, announcing paid family leave for foster parents, extending foster care to age 23, and overseeing record recruitment and retention of foster homes.

Dr. Adams earned his bachelor’s degree and Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Toledo in Ohio and his Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. Dr. Adams and his wife, Jennifer, are raising their daughter, Emerson.