William T. Riley Appointed Acting Director of NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research


July 2014


William T. Riley was recently appointed acting director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health. Riley had been serving as a program official at the National Cancer Institute. Previous OBSSR director Robert Kaplan left in May to become chief science officer at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Riley holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Florida State University. He will serve as acting director while a nationwide search is conducted to permanently fill the OBSSR director’s position.

In offering his perspective as the new acting director, Riley noted that “the behavioral and social sciences must be integral to advancing the NIH mission and to do so must be integrated throughout the health research that NIH funds. While we have made significant advances in this regard, we have much remaining to accomplish.”