By Michael A. Fletcher and Ceci Connoll
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, February 28, 2009; 7:18 PM

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius this afternoon accepted President Obama’s request to become his Health and Human Services secretary, stepping into a central role in the new administration’s ambitious effort to overhaul the nation’s health care system.

Sebelius’s nomination comes just days before the White House is scheduled to convene a summit on health reform, an early step in the president’s ambitious plan to vastly expand the reach of the nation’s health care system. A formal announcement of her nomination will come on Monday.

REST OF ARTICLE

Pledging independent leadership to move Kansas forward, Kathleen Sebelius became the 44th Governor of the State of Kansas in 2003. In 2005, Time magazine named her one of the nation’s top five governors. She was reelected to a second term in 2006.
BIOGRAPHY