The state of Rhode Island may be close to hiring its first Director of the Department of Health in more than two years, ending a period of post-pandemic interim directors.
Gov. Dan McKee, appearing on WBLQ’s It’s Your Business, hosted by Frank Prosnitz, says he’s down to “two or three final interviews” and working with the General Assembly to increase the director’s salary (now at about $150,000, he says) to be more competitive with neighboring states.
“We expect to be competitive on pricing, and expect that to happen in March,” McKee says.
Adding a sense of urgency is the expected retirement of Interim Director Utpala Bandy, MD, MPH. McKee says Bandy is expected to retire in the first or second quarter of this year.
Bandy was appointed interim director in June of 2022, taking over the next month from Dr. James McDonald, who was serving as interim director since January 2022. He left for what was described as family matters, moving to New York, where he became commissioner of the New York State Department of Health.
McDonald was appointed interim director when Dr. Nicole Alexander Scott left the director’s position at the end of 2021, after seven years in the position. She’s now CEO of Nicole Alexander-Scott, LLC, working with national partners to build healthy and resilient communities, according to a website at Brown University, where she’s also a clinical professor.
Scott was a familiar face on television during the pandemic, a role assumed by McDonald when he took over the interim position.
The governor says the state’s healthcare system ranks among the best nationally. U.S. News and World Report ranks Rhode Island second, behind Hawaii. Forbes Advisor ranks Rhode Island third.
In McKee’s State of the State address and budget proposal, he emphasized state investments in Rhode Island’s Life Science Hub, formed last year, and a proposed bond issue to build a Life Sciences Building at the University of Rhode Island.