This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Mary Ellen McIntire.

President Barack Obama nominated a former School of Public Health and Health Services professor Monday to be the next labor secretary.

Thomas Perez, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, worked at GW’s public health school from 2007 to 2009. He held an endowed research professor position and taught part-time.

“His work at SPHHS focused on the intersection of civil rights and ensuring access to health care for underserved communities,” Lynn Goldman, dean of the public health school, said in a statement. “We know that he will bring the same level of commitment to his work if he becomes the next Secretary of the Labor Department.”

Perez served as Maryland’s labor secretary until 2009, when he was appointed to his current position as the nation’s top-ranking civil rights lawyer.

He was also a professor at the University of Maryland’s law school from 2001 to 2007, and served as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights under the Clinton administration.