Richard Sorian, the Department of Health and Human Services public affairs chief who was a recess appointment by President Obama last year, will step down today as the posting expires.
Sorian |
Recess appointments can only serve through the end of the next session of Congress if not confirmed by the Senate.
Obama nominated Sorian, who is openly gay, to the key assistant secretary of public affairs post in October 2009. After the nomination moved out of committee it was never allowed a full vote by Senate, so Obama named him as a recess appointment in August 2010.
Sorian has since played a key role in communicating the administration’s healthcare overhaul. Deputy assistant secretary Dori Salcido takes over Sorian’s role on an interim basis.
He was VP for public policy and external relations for the National Committee for Quality Assurance and director of PA for the Center for Studying Health System Change.
A former healthcare journalist, he was an advisor to Clinton-era HHS Secretary Donna Shalala and worked on the Patient’s Bill of Rights in the late 1990s.