Mackenzie Wolf, Author at Federal Times

ONC names new national coordinator for health IT

Mackenzie Wolf — Tue, 04 Apr 2017 16:17:03 +0000

Dr. Donald Rucker, M.D. has been named the new national coordinator for the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT, per FierceHealthcare.

Previously, Rucker was the chief medical officer for Siemens and is presently an adjunct professor in the bioinformatics department at the Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Friday, March 31, Rucker was listed as director of the Department of Health and Human Services following rumors he was being considered for the position.

“Don is a really good guy,” Jacob Reider, M.D., CEO at the Alliance for Better Healthcare, told FierceHealthcare, adding he has known Rucker for several decades. “He’s a very focused, thoughtful, experienced health IT leader. He’s got the best interest of the nation in mind in the work that he does and has always done.”

The acting national coordinator of the ONC, Jon White, M.D., will return to his position as deputy national coordinator.

Microsoft exec nabs DHS cyber post

Mackenzie Wolf — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 11:53:24 +0000

The first major cyber-policy appointment in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) came this week, reports CyberScoop. Christopher Krebs, a cybersecurity policy executive and vice-chair of the National Cyber Security Alliance began work as a senior counselor to John Kelly, the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Previously, Krebs worked as a policy adviser for DHS during the George W. Bush administration and most recently as a cybersecurity policy executive for Microsoft.

Krebs, whose appointment was first reported by Politico, was among several new jobs announced recently by DHS. President Trump announced his intent to nominate David Glawe as the undersecretary for intelligence and analysis. Glawe is currently the head of intelligence at U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Trump also named Benjamin Cassidy as assistance secretary of legislative affairs at DHS and Jonathan Rath Hoffman as assistant secretary of public affairs.