People In Brief
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Childress back at HELP: Mark Childress rejoins the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee as senior adviser for national health reform. He briefly was chief of staff at the Department of Health and Human Services, one of the staff selections of former HHS Secretary-nominee Tom Daschle. But his departure was expected after Daschle withdrew his nomination. A member of the Obama transition team, Childress left a partnership at Foley Hoag to take the HHS appointment; he had been Daschle's chief counsel and policy director from 2000 to 2005. This will be Childress' second tour at the Senate panel, having worked there from 1989 to 1995 as chief counsel. At HHS, it appears that Laura Petrou, also a former Daschle aide, will step in as chief of staff, at least temporarily