Amy Abernethy, FDA principal deputy commissioner, was appointed the agency’s acting chief information officer and lead the Office of Information Management and Technology in addition to her other duties.
Craig Taylor has been acting as FDA’s CIO in addition to serving as the Chief Information Security Officer. He will continue to serve as the Chief Information Security Officer.
Abernethy came to FDA earlier this year, leaving her position as chief medical officer, chief scientific officer and senior vice president of oncology at Flatiron Health (The Cancer Letter, Dec. 17, 2018).
As acting CIO, Abernethy will “bring a new perspective to the FDA’s information technology programs and priorities,” agency officials said in an announcement of Abernethy’s appointment. “She was one of the pioneers in bioinformatics, and her career has focused on how to use software and data to simultaneously accelerate clinical research while informing personalized healthcare and scientific discovery.
“As science and medicine continue to evolve, the FDA’s priorities and regulatory science programs will continue to require the efficient and effective application of new technology; including the latest advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, scientific and high-performance computing, and other technologies to support the specific mission areas of each Center and Office.”
