David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P. is the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology for the Department of Health and Human Services, as chosen by the Obama Administration. He’s faced with the task of leading the implementation of a nationwide interoperable, privacy-protected health information technology infrastructure as called for in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which includes a $19.5 billion investment in health information technology to save money, improve quality of care for patients, and make the country’s health care system more efficient.

Prior to this post, Blumenthal served as a physician and director of the Institute for Health Policy at The Massachusetts General Hospital/Partners HealthCare System in Boston.  Additionally, he was Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine and Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School. He also served as director of the Harvard University Interfaculty Program for Health Systems Improvement. And prior to that, he was senior vice president at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and served as executive director of the Center for Health Policy and Management and as a lecturer on Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Blumenthal also worked on Senator Edward Kennedy’s Senate Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research in the 1970s. More recently, he served as a senior health adviser to the Obama for America campaign.  He has extensively researched the dissemination of health information technology, quality management in health care, the determinants of physician behavior, access to health services, and the extent and consequences of academic-industrial relationships in the health sciences.

Linda Cureton is chief information officer for NASA, a position she has held since late September of 2009. In her role, Cureton is charged with providing the requisite leadership to achieve mission enabling, integrated, secure, and efficient IT capabilities and services at NASA. She also ensures agency’s information resource management strategy is in alignment with NASA’s vision, mission and strategic goals. Accordingly, Cureton oversees the development of integrated IRM strategies, including standards, policies, NASA Enterprise Architecture, IT security, management and operations. With her title comes the responsibility, authority, and accountability for ensuring that NASA’s information assets are selected, controlled, and evaluated consistent with federal policies, procedures, and legislation.

Cureton was with NASA before being appointed CIO. She previously served as the director of the IT and Communications Directorate and the CIO of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Before that, she was deputy assistant director for the Office of Science and Technology and deputy CIO at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, where she was responsible for providing leadership in the innovative and efficient application of science and technology used to collect, clarify, and communicate information needed to reduce violent crime, collect revenue and protect the public. As the ATF deputy CIO, she was responsible for ensuring that the use of IT for the bureau’s mission and business requirements fulfilled customer and stakeholder needs.

Her impressive leadership experience also extends to positions she has held in the Department of Energy, where she served in many roles, including acting CIO.

Cureton earned a bachelor’s degree from Howard University in 1980, graduating magna cum laude with a major in mathematics and a minor in Latin. She also received a master’s degree in applied mathematics from Johns Hopkins University in 1994, and a post-master’s advanced certificate in applied mathematics from Johns Hopkins University in 1996.