Marcia Nielsen, executive director of the Kansas Health Policy Authority, will leave that position to return to Kansas University Medical Center, it was announced Friday.

KHPA was formed in 2005 to run the state Medicaid program and help formulate state health policy. Nielsen, of Lawrence, has been its only executive director.

“It has been an incredible honor to be part of helping build this new agency from the ground up,” Nielsen said.

Republicans in the Legislature have been critical of the agency, which has sought to expand health coverage for poor people and increase the cigarette tax.

Nielsen will return to KU Medical Center, where she had worked from 2002 through 2006. Her new job will be vice chancellor of public policy and planning.

She also will return to her faculty role in the Department of Health Policy and Management and serve as associate director of public policy at the Institute for Public and Community Health.

The KHPA board is expected to name an interim executive director at its next meeting May 19.