Topeka ? The state board that regulates Kansas doctors wants its interim executive director to have the job permanently.

The Board of Healing Arts voted unanimously Friday to have Kathleen Selzler Lippert remain as its top staff person. The appointment must be confirmed by the state Senate.

Lippert is the board’s former litigation counsel and became interim executive director in October. She replaced Jack Confer, who resigned for reasons that have not been made public.

Confer, a former medical regulator in Arizona, took the Kansas job in June 2008.

His predecessor resigned after legislators adopted resolutions seeking change at the board, with some saying it had been too lenient with unethical or incompetent doctors.