HHS Spokesperson Bill Pierce To Leave Department for Position With Public Relations Firm
HHS spokesperson Bill Pierce -- a "high-energy, rapid-response defender of Bush administration policies ... over the past four years" -- plans to leave the department to serve as vice president of Washington, D.C.-based public relations firm APCO Worldwide, CQ HealthBeat reports. Pierce, currently the HHS deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, plans to work with corporate clients on health care-related communications and policy strategy.
APCO said, "Beginning with President Bush's 2001 announcement of a new stem cell policy, the 9/11 and anthrax attacks, the Medicare debate, passage and implementation, to this past fall's flu shortage, presidential election and the FDA drug safety debate ... Pierce has stood at the front lines as the spokesman for HHS and one of the department's key public affairs advisers."
HHS has not named a replacement for Pierce, according to CQ HealthBeat (CQ HealthBeat, 4/13).