Darrell LaRoche

Deputy Director for Management Operations

Indian Health Service [IHS]

Darrell LaRoche, an enrolled member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, is the deputy director for management operations for the Indian Health Service, an agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In this position, Mr. LaRoche serves as the principal advisor to the IHS director for the management of IHS operations. He is responsible for providing management direction to IHS program offices, including implementing the IHS mission and agency goals; providing overall organization management to improve agency performance; developing strategic plans; and planning, directing, and evaluating operations of the headquarters functions, authorities, and responsibilities in support of the director.

Mr. LaRoche is a retired captain in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps with more than 30 years of experience in facilities engineering, safety, health care programs, and emergency services with IHS, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.

Mr. LaRoche started his career as a facilities staff engineer in the IHS Portland Area in 1992 and then served as the facility engineer for the IHS Santa Fe Service Unit from 1995 to 1998. He served as the deputy for the health facilities engineering program in the IHS California Area from 1998 to 2000 before accepting the position as the facilities director for the IHS Albuquerque Area in 2000. Mr. LaRoche then transferred to IHS headquarters in 2008 to serve as the director of emergency services, and was on detail as the acting deputy director for the Office of Clinical and Preventive Services.

After 20 years of service with the IHS, Mr. LaRoche transferred to the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland, where he provided oversight of the Environment, Health, and Safety Program. He retired from the USPHS Commissioned Corps and became a member of the Senior Executive Service in June 2014 with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs under the Department of the Interior, and served as the director of the Office of Facilities, Property and Safety Management. He most recently served as the director for the IHS Office of Clinical and Preventive Services from 2019 to 2022.

Mr. LaRoche received a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque in 1991 and has completed graduate coursework in industrial hygiene at Tulane University in New Orleans. He is a graduate of the Interagency Institute of Federal Healthcare Executives and the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. As a commissioned officer in the USPHS, he received the Meritorious Service Medal, Outstanding Service Medal, Achievement Medals, PHS Citation, and numerous unit and service awards.

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