Gov. Maura Healey suddenly has a vacancy to fill.
Elizabeth Chen, who served as the state’s secretary of elder affairs since 2019, left the job Friday.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh informed staff of the change Monday, and said that Deputy Secretary Robin Lipson would take over the elder affairs secretary position on an interim basis, a spokesperson confirmed.
The Healey administration declined to provide any additional information about Chen’s departure, which was first reported by the Boston Globe.
“We are grateful for Secretary Chen’s five years of service to older adults in Massachusetts and wish her well on her future endeavors,” Walsh wrote in an email to the Executive Office of Elder Affairs. “I am also truly grateful to Robin for so kindly agreeing to step into this interim role. EOEA is in good hands — I’m confident this will be a stable transition.”
Former Gov. Charlie Baker first appointed Chen, a former biotech executive and assistant commissioner at the Department of Public Health, as elder affairs secretary in 2019.
On Tuesday, Chen weighed in via a prewritten statement on a bill Healey filed to rename the office as the Executive Office of Aging and Independence, when she said “we look forward to working with our legislative partners to make [the change] official.” No one said at that point that Chen was in her final week of work leading the department.