Embattled director of US research integrity office heads to NIH

The director of the US government office that investigates claims of scientific misconduct, who was temporarily reassigned in December 2017, will not return to the Office of Research Integrity (Ori) as she was slated to six months ago.

Kathy Partin, a microbiologist and former administrator at Colorado State University, had served as Ori’s director for two years before her temporary relocation to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences late last year. The reshuffling followed criticism that stemmed in part from Partin’s comprehensive review of Ori’s operations.

Partin was meant to resume her role at Ori in March 2018, but never returned and now has a new job at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Partin is now the senior member of the NIH intramural research director’s scientific advisory committee, and ultimately she will become the NIH research integrity officer when Melissa Colbert retires from that post at the end of the year.