- Chris Nichols brings a cautionary technologist approach to Defense Health Agency procurement
- He believes DHA should be intelligent about where, and how, it inserts emerging technologies like AI before underlying process or policy components are fixed.
- Hear directly from Nichols and top ranking Pentagon officials during a panel discussion at the 2026 Digital Transformation Summit on Wednesday—April 22!
Chris Nichols is a cautionary technologist. The Defense Health Agency Program Executive Office Defense Healthcare Management Systems program manager for enterprise intelligence and data solutions directs the modernization of legacy systems, implementation of a digital health hub and integration with enterprise platforms including Military Health System GENESIS to ensure interoperability and data accessibility.
But Nichols has a healthy skepticism of artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies, in military healthcare. This is because he believes DHA should be intelligent about where, and how, it inserts technology, especially as it moves into AI-enabled capabilities, before underlying process or policy components are fixed. The intersection of these factors together is what will bring DHA toward enabling intelligent health.
“Otherwise, you’re laying technology on processes that are not resolved or streamlined in the first place,” Nichols told ExecutiveGov in an exclusive interview ahead of his panel discussion at the 2026 Digital Transformation Summit on Wednesday. “We have to be intelligent about how we do these things and then how we access and develop these tools and from a requirements perspective.”
Hear directly from Nichols during his panel discussion on Mission Engineering at Scale: The Digital Backbone of Defense Modernization at the Potomac Officers Club 2026 Digital Transformation Summit on Wednesday. This all-star panel also features Pentagon Director of Digital Engineering, Modeling and Simulation Daniel Hettema and Space Systems Command DPEO for Space Combat Power Col. Scott Klempner. Secure your seat today!
How Does Chris Nichols View AI?
Nichols views AI as a co-pilot, partner or adjunct instead of a replacement in military healthcare. This is because the clinician, physician, nurse or other healthcare professional is ultimately accountable for the delivery of care to a patient. He said the recent Food and Drug Administration approval of an AI capability for pharmaceutical ordering is an example of how the DHA must think about the management of algorithms and data that’s going in, and data that’s coming out, to ensure there’s no harm to the patients.
How Is DHA Experimenting With AI?
DHA is experimenting with AI to boost patient healthcare services as DHA, despite Nichols’ AI skepticism. DHA and the Military Entrance Processing Command, or MEPCOM, are performing AI predictive modeling and capabilities. The DHA also plans to deploy a full agentic AI data catalog for the 7.5 petabytes of data within the MHS information platform by the end of April.
What Is Technology Saturation?
Technology saturation, a challenge facing DHA, is a phenomenon where technology is advancing so rapidly and vendors are pitching so many products to the agency where it struggles to evaluate, acquire and deploy them in a timely manner before the technology becomes outdated.
Nichols believes that the Pentagon’s acquisition reform efforts to accelerate procurement and quickly field emerging technologies will help with the technology saturation challenge. This is by breaking down barriers and finding better ways with vendors, or vendor partners, to evaluate and acquire capabilities and tools while they are still relevant.
“If we’re not careful, we’re going to acquire…generation one of that capability, while industry is already delivering to the commercial side generation three or four of that capability,” Nichols said.
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Who Is Chris Nichols?
Nichols was a critical care and trauma nurse in the Army early in his career before transitioning into health informatics, or the integration point between health IT and clinical care. This, Nichols said, gives him a grounding component when it comes to acquiring technology for the application of military healthcare.
He plans on discussing at the 2026 Digital Transformation Summit the innovative ways DHA is performing predictive modeling. He will also discuss how DHA and MEPCOM are cleaning up, managing and integrating disparate data in support of their military partners and other federal agencies.
Nichols plans to soon roll out a digital proving ground so that vendors, or potential partners, have a place to prove out and demonstrate technologies that will help the DHA make better, quicker and more decisive decisions on products and capabilities. The DHA, he said, recently flipped many of its contracts into commercial solutions openings and other transaction authority contracting vehicles. Nichols anticipates additional business opportunities to come out later in FY 2026, which ends Sept. 30.
