HHS Posts ORI Job Amid Another Extended Vacancy
Perhaps a year or more after the then-director of the HHS Office of Research Integrity (ORI) moved up to join agency leadership, HHS has posted the job opening online at usajobs.gov. The pivotal office that investigates fabrication, falsification and plagiarism in billions of dollars of research funded by the Public Health Service has been without a leader since Elisabeth Handley became HHS principal deputy assistant secretary sometime last year. Appointed ORI director in March 2020, Handley first served as interim director beginning in August 2019. HHS announced Handley’s new job in June of last year, but a misconduct finding in January 2021 was signed by Wanda Jones, who was listed as the acting director.
Before Handley was appointed, the job was vacant for two years following the reassignment of Kathryn Partin, who had a troubled two-year tenure before she was transferred out of HHS. Her predecessor, David Wright, who was ORI director from 2012 to 2014, also stepped in after a two-year vacancy. All of the previous directors had Ph.Ds. However, the new job application, which was posted April 21, does not have an education requirement. The job is based in Rockville, Maryland, and pays from $135,468 to $203,700 annually. Applications will be accepted through May 23.
