A month after the former chief technologist stepped down, entrepreneur and health IT expert Susannah Fox has been appointed the next CTO at Health and Human Services.
Fox is taking over for former CTO Bryan Sivak, who retired from government at the end of April after a career of innovation, including creation of the HHS IDEA Lab, HHS Buyers Club and the agency's Innovator-in-Residence and Entrepreneur-in-Residence programs.
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While Fox joins HHS with big shoes to fill, she has a proven record outside public service. Before coming to government, Fox served as an editor at U.S. News and World Report, associate director of the Pew Research Center's health IT sector and, most recently, entrepreneur in residence for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
"I thought nothing could tempt me to turn away from this smorgasbord I was sampling," Fox said of her time at the Foundation. "But when I was asked to consider the role of Chief Technology Officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to serve under the leadership of Secretary [Sylvia] Burwell, I was drawn by the possibilities."
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Fox announced her new position in a post on her personal website and a longer introduction on the HHS IDEA Lab blog. In the latter, she cited three goals as the new agency CTO that made her excited to begin:
- To support and expand the data liberacion work that Todd Park, the first CTO of HHS, sparked. I'm a health data geek from way back and think we've only just begun to harness its power.
- To nurture the entrepreneurial spirit that Bryan Sivak and his IDEA Lab team have ignited across all 11 HHS operating divisions. Their participatory approach to solving problems matches my own methods. We have so much to learn from our colleagues all across the country, as well as from the real health care delivery experts — the citizens we serve.
- To shine a spotlight on the role that citizens play in strengthening the health of our country. Technology's true impact is only just now emerging in this area. The internet gives us greater access to information, yes, but even more importantly, it gives us access to each other.
Fox's passion and expectations for the new gig were summed up at the end of her post.
More: HHS spearheads health data interoperability work
"One morning a few weeks ago I went for an early-morning run. I thought about the thousands of people who have shared their stories with me over the last 15 years, hoping that I could find a way to channel their ingenuity, humanity and hard-won experience to heal health care," she wrote. "Not to be too metaphysical, but I felt all of them with me at that moment. I knew then that I would serve them by taking on this role if it was offered to me."
Aaron Boyd is an awarding-winning journalist currently serving as editor of Federal Times — a Washington, D.C. institution covering federal workforce and contracting for more than 50 years — and Fifth Domain — a news and information hub focused on cybersecurity and cyberwar from a civilian, military and international perspective.
