WASHINGTON (NYTIMES) - US President-elect Joe Biden has selected Mr Xavier Becerra, a former congressman who is now the Democratic attorney-general of California, as his nominee for secretary of health and human services, ending a politically delicate search that brought complaints from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus about a lack of Latinos in the incoming Cabinet.

Mr Becerra became Mr Biden's clear choice only over the past few days, according to people familiar with the transition's deliberations, and was a surprise. He has carved out a profile more on the issues of criminal justice, immigration and tax policy, and he was long thought to be a candidate for attorney-general.

But as attorney-general in California, he led legal efforts on healthcare, including leading 20 states and the District of Columbia in a campaign seeking to protect the Affordable Care Act from being dismantled by Republican attorneys-general. He has also been a leading voice in the Democratic Party for women's health.

If confirmed, he will immediately face a daunting task in leading the department at a critical moment during a pandemic that has killed more than 281,000 people in the United States - and one that has taken a particularly devastating toll on people of colour.

A spokesperson for Mr Biden's transition team declined to comment. The president-elect plans to formally announce Mr Becerra as his choice to lead the Health Department early this week, along with several other top healthcare advisers, according to people familiar with the rollout.

Dr Rochelle Walensky, the chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, will be selected to lead the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to a person familiar with Mr Biden's deliberations.

Dr Walensky, whose selection was reported earlier by Politico, will replace Dr Robert Redfield as the leader of the scientific agency.

Dr Vivek Murthy, who served as surgeon-general under President Barack Obama, will reprise that role for Mr Biden.

A telegenic confidant of the president-elect, Dr Murthy will become one of Mr Biden's closest advisers on medical issues and will lead much of the public outreach on the pandemic.

Mr Jeffrey Zients, an entrepreneur and management consultant who served as the head of Obama's National Economic Council and fixed the bungled rollout of the health law's online insurance marketplace, will become a coronavirus czar in the White House, leading efforts to coordinate the fight against the coronavirus pandemic among the government's sprawling agencies.

Some medical experts, who have been pushing the Biden team to name people with medical or public health expertise to serve in health leadership positions, were caught off guard - and unhappily so - by the news of Mr Becerra's selection.

In a letter sent last week to Mr Biden, five leading medical groups - the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physicians among them - called on the president-elect to appoint "qualified physicians to serve in key positions critical to advancing the health of our nation."

One person familiar with that effort said people involved were "astounded" by the selection of Mr Becerra, and suggested that Mr Biden elevate Dr Murthy to a Cabinet-level position.

But in an interview Sunday night, Dr Ada Stewart, the president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, one of the groups that sent the letter, described Mr Becerra as "a good choice" and "an experienced legislator and executive" - even as she conceded that her group would "prefer, of course, to have a physician in this position."

Mr Becerra's experience in Washington may also help Biden secure legislative changes to bolster the Affordable Care Act, a central promise that the president-elect made during the 2020 campaign.

Mr Becerra, 62, served 12 terms in Congress, representing Los Angeles, before becoming the attorney-general of his home state in 2017. He is the first Latino to hold that office, and while in Congress he was the first Latino to serve as a member of the Ways and Means Committee. He also led the House Democratic Caucus, which gave him a powerful leadership post.

An outspoken advocate of improved health care access, Mr Becerra said in 2017 that he would "absolutely" support "Medicare for All," a proposal for government-run healthcare that Mr Biden has explicitly rejected.

A source familiar with the selection said Mr Becerra would support the president-elect's call for strengthening and preserving the ACA and would not be pushing Medicare for All while in office.

Born in Sacramento, California, Mr Becerra grew up in a working-class family; his mother emigrated from Mexico. Neither of his parents "had much formal schooling," according to an official, and he was the first in his family to graduate from college. He attended Stanford University as an undergraduate and received his law degree there in 1984.

Mr Biden was impressed by Mr Becerra's personal story, according to a person familiar with his thinking. In particular, the president-elect liked the fact that Mr Becerra served clients with mental health needs shortly after graduating from law school, the person said.

While in Congress, Mr Becerra was a fierce advocate for the Latino community, and became deeply involved in efforts to overhaul the nation's immigration system. He also promoted a national museum devoted to exploring the culture and history of American Latinos. The House voted this year to create such a museum.

Representative Filemon Vela praised Mr Biden's choice of Mr Becerra, calling it "historic" and saying the California attorney-general was the right person to lead the sprawling agency during the worst public health crisis in 100 years.

"Becerra will lead an agency that will play a crucial role in overseeing a massive immunisation effort and help manage a bolstered federal response to tackle the worsening Covid-19 crisis," Mr Vela said. "He will also help shape the Biden administration's efforts to build on the Affordable Care Act."