This quilt is one of a series of quilts I generated following Election Day 2024. There were so many changes to laws, funding, access – especially related to my discipline and my research – that I used my sewing machine for Processing the Policies. Explore the collection.

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Background

When I hear the name Rachel Levine, the first image that enters my mind is Dr. Levine standing at a podium and speaking into a microphone. At that moment, a televised press conference is taking place where she is providing a COVID update for the state of Pennsylvania. Then-Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf had appointed Dr. Levine the Physician General of PA back in 2015, and then she became the PA Secretary of Health in 2018.

In 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Dr. Levine to serve as the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. After her Senate confirmation in March the same year, Dr. Levine became the first openly transgender official to be confirmed by the Senate, as well as the highest-ranking openly transgender official in U.S. history. That October, Dr. Levine was sworn in as the first-ever female four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. In addition to these amazing career accomplishments, you can read more about her background and early career on the National Women’s History Museum website and in the NPR article Dr. Rachel Levine is sworn in as the nation’s first transgender four-star officer.

Admiral Rachel Levine resigned from her position at the Department of Health and Human Services on Inauguration Day, 2025. Her exit interview with NPR details how she faced campaigns against topics ranging from vaccines to gender-affirming care. Although she no longer serves at HHS, her presence remains, as there is a “particular hallway on the seventh floor of the Humphrey Building in Washington, D.C., [where] you’ll find a line of photographic portraits of all the people from years past who have led the Public Health Corps at the federal Department of Health and Human Services” (NPR, 2025). Dr. Levine’s portrait was added along that hallway when she began serving in 2021.

However, at some point during the federal government shutdown October 1 through November 12, 2025, someone in the leadership of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health changed the name under Admiral Levine’s photo by removing her current legal name and replacing it with her previous/prior name, or what is called her deadname. Dr. Levine is not willing to comment on what she is calling a “petty action” – but I have some thoughts and feelings about this.

The quilt

I’m sure some people brushed away this story when they first heard it and would struggle to recall the details. I know there are several others that never heard this headline. But this show of disrespect to Dr. Rachel Levine motivated me to make sure this story is not forgotten. After all Dr. Levine has done for Pennsylvanians and those across the nation, we can do better to honor her.

I decided to make a quilt to honor Dr. Rachel Levine and her portrait. But instead of making a portrait, I used heath-themed fabrics inside a frame I created with gold fabric and trim. The frame is hanging on a wall with a name plate that says “Rachel” underneath. The quilt title of “Her name is Rachel” is appropriate and calls attention to the name that belongs below her portrait. My quilt is not as polished and professional as her formal portrait, but it will keep the story alive and hopefully continue the awareness that this action is not acceptable and should never happen again.

This quilt was completed March 8, 2026 (International Women’s Day) and measures 36 inches tall by 32 inches wide. Trim was purchased through Dove Originals Trims, a small family business in Massachusetts.