Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell speaks about the benefits of the Affordable Care Act on January 9, 2017. She was named the next president of American University today. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Sylvia Mathews Burwell is moving from the most public face of Obamacare to the most public face of American University.

The Board of Trustees announced today that the former Health and Human Services secretary will be the university’s 15th president. It is the first time that a woman will hold the position (Gallaudet also recently named its first female president).

Burwell will succeed President Neil Kerwin, who announced last May that he would step down after a decade on the job (and another two years prior as interim president).

Currently ranked 74 on the U.S. News and World report rankings, the university has steadily worked to raise its profile in recent years. In announcing Burwell’s hire, school touted its current admission rate of 26 percent as the “lowest in school history.”

“AU’s trajectory over the last decade enables us to leverage our strengths and think in bold, ambitious ways,” Burwell said in a statement.

As head of HHS, Burwell oversaw Medicare and Medicaid, the Food and Drug Administration, and a variety of other programs, but she is best known for efforts to shepherd and defend the Affordable Care Act—steering the ship after a muddled roll-out under Kathleen Sebelius. The Supreme Court case that upheld most of the law’s provisions was called King v. Burwell.

Before leading HHS, Burwell was the director of the Office of Management and Budget. She also served in the Clinton administration and as the chief operating officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.