"Happy to announce, I am nominating Alex Azar to be the next HHS Secretary," Trump tweeted. "He will be a star for better healthcare and lower drug prices!"Azar has a deep knowledge of the regulatory process, those who worked with him said, but Democrats are likely to raise red flags on how he'll handle ObamaCare and drug prices.The role is high-profile, tasked with overseeing various facets of health care, from Medicare and Medicaid to drug approvals and disease control — and most controversially, the implementation of the health-care law Republicans want to tear down.

The GOP controls 52 seats, and Azar only needs 51 votes to win Senate confirmation.

Azar left the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly in January after working there for nearly a decade, most recently serving as the president of Lilly USA. He now runs a consulting firm, according to his LinkedIn profile. Working in HHS during President George W. Bush's administration, he served as the department's general counsel from 2001 to 2005 and then assumed the role of deputy secretary for the next two years.