JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The Missouri Senate has confirmed the director of the Department of Health and Senior Services.
Gail Vasterling had been serving as the agency's acting director since December 2012, but needed Senate confirmation to remain the job. She took over for Margaret Donnelly, who left the post for a job teaching health law at Saint Louis University.
Vasterling also previously served as the agency's deputy director and spent two years as a deputy counsel in the governor's office.
She also spent one year as general counsel for the Department of Corrections during Nixon's administration and was in the attorney general's office from 1994 to 2008, when Nixon was attorney general.