A government official helping spearhead Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again initiative has “disqualifying” family financial interests that clash with her work, the Department of Health and Human Services ruled in conflict-of-interest waiver documents obtained by The Washington Sun.
But Dr. Tammy Born Huizenga’s financial conflicts are “not so substantial as to be likely to affect the integrity” of her public service, which she may continue, HHS determined.
The conflicts stem from Huizenga’s husband’s financial holdings — particularly, more than $5 million worth of interest in Oak Investors Group LLC, assets of which include pharmaceutical preparation, surgical and medical instrument manufacturing investments, as well as investments in insurance agencies.
Her husband, Michigan businessman J.C. Huizenga, also has an eight-figure stake in Praxis Group Holdings, which provides Food and Drug Administration-regulated packaging for pharmaceuticals, medical devices and nutritional products, according to the waiver, which is dated Sept. 30.
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“I have considered whether this case presents an insurmountable concern about the appearance of impropriety and have concluded it does not,” wrote Roger Klein, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the section of HHS where Huizenga serves as a senior adviser providing “strategic leadership and expert guidance to advance the Secretary’s priorities under the Making America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative.”
Huizenga is tasked with a range of specific duties involving nutritional guidelines, processed foods, environmental exposure policies, consumer product labeling and wearable health technologies, as well as “research on alternative and integrative health modalities” and “strategic public-private partnerships designed to promote patient engagement and informed lifestyle choices,” the waiver indicates.
Her role also includes providing “strategic counsel” to Klein and maintaining “effective liaison relationships with federal agencies, academic institutions, private-sector organizations and nonprofit entities.”
HHS declined to answer specific questions about Huizenga’s conflict-of-interest waivers.
In a statement to The Sun, HHS spokesperson Emily G. Hilliard said that “all HHS employees, including Dr. Huizenga, are required to comply with applicable federal ethics laws, regulations, and financial disclosure requirements. HHS has established ethics processes to identify and address potential conflicts of interest, including recusals or other appropriate measures when required.”
Patrick Shepherd, spokesperson for the independent Office of Government Ethics, declined to comment, saying that while OGE is committed to transparency and citizen oversight of government,” it “does not respond to questions about specific individuals.”
On her personal website, Huizenga says her “passion lies in empowering individuals to take ownership of their well-being by being mindful of what goes into their bodies and what comes out — and to experience the vitality we all deserve.”
Huizenga praised Kennedy’s HHS leadership in an interview with “The Daily Signal” last year, saying “RFK has made it really clear what his priorities are … I love that. We do need to reset here. We’ve been going down a path where the pharmaceutical companies have controlled the narrative.”
This is not the first conflict-of-interest waiver Huizenga has received this year.
On Jan. 13, HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Brian Christine issued Huizenga — then senior adviser for the Office of Assistant Secretary for Health — a waiver because she could not otherwise “perform any substantive duties related to any of the areas” in which she had a family financial conflict. In addition to her husband’s financial interests, Christine indicated that Huizenga had a media-related financial interest that could pose a conflict.
Morris Pearl, chairman of government watchdog group Patriotic Millionaires, said that if Huizenga or any other government official wants to truly avoid conflicts of interest, they should divest conflicted assets or place them in a qualified blind trust.
“Even the appearance of a conflict of interest damages people’s confidence in the government,” Pearl said.
Kennedy himself has been the subject of conflict-of-interest questions, particularly regarding book advances and gifts he’s received this year.
Earlier this year, The Sun revealed that HHS’s then-General Counsel Mike Stuart was engaging in “continued non-compliance” with a signed ethics agreement by personally trading stocks in companies with large HHS contracts. Soon after, HHS reassigned Stuart.
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