Dive Brief:
- The White House announced in a blog post that it has tapped DJ Patil for the job of Chief Data Scientist and Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Data Policy.
- Notable for his stints with LinkedIn, eBay, PayPal, Skype and high-profile Silicon Valley venture capital firm Greylock Partners, Patil's job is going to focus on Big Data apps, with particular attention to those aimed at healthcare solutions.
- "As Chief Data Scientist, DJ will help shape policies and practices to help the US remain a leader in technology and innovation, foster partnerships to help responsibly maximize the nation's return on its investment in data, and help to recruit and retain the best minds in data science to join us in serving the public," Smith wrote in her blog on WhiteHouse.gov."“DJ will also work on the Administration’s Precision Medicine Initiative, which focuses on utilizing advances in data and health care to provide clinicians with new tools, knowledge, and therapies to select which treatments will work best for which patients, while protecting patient privacy."
Dive Insight:
The Obama Administration is serious about its science policy.
After creating the position of Chief Technology Officer in 2009, the administration has been working hard to establish serious tech bonafides to develop stronger and more effective policies regarding innovation in the tech sector.
Most White House science advisors, however, have operated in the abstract. Congress created the Senate-confirmable post of science advisor back in 1976, and probably few can name one of the scientists to hold the post. This appointment is different, because the worlds of technology and healthcare have been engaged in a slow motion collision since the beginning of the decade. The HHS, FDA, FTC and FCC have all been caught flat-footed at one time or another because they were behind the technology curve.
Having a super-qualified guy like Patil working in the White House to help embrace, engineer and evangelize Big Data apps specifically for healthcare is good news for the administration. Everyone in the healthcare industry, but especially the White House, could use one more very smart person tasked with helping healthcare manage its growing partnership with technology.