Susannah Fox, who served as entrepreneur in residence at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation after 14 years at the Pew Research Center, is the new CTO, she announced in an HHS blog post on May 28. The third departmental CIO and first woman to hold the position, Fox explained why she was drawn away from her position at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to lead technology for HHS.
Fox outlined three main opportunities for technology advancement in the department, which include open data, cross-agency collaboration through programs like the HHS IDEA Lab and civic engagement. Fox’s public debut will coincide with her appearance at Health Datapalooza 2015, a Washington, D.C.-based conference running May 31 through June 3.
Fox said she intends to continue the work of her predecessor. In addition to founding the IDEA Lab, Sivak is also recognized for establishing the HHS Buyers Club, a program to improve procurement, and launching the HHS Ignite Accelerator, which has funded dozens of projects that targeted process optimization.
“I can’t wait to get started,” Fox wrote. “And I’m counting on all of you to help! Thank you in advance. We are going to do great things.”
