New U.S. Department of Health and Human Services CTO Susannah Fox delivered the closing keynote at MedCity ENGAGE, Wednesday in Bethesda, Md. Shortly after leaving the stage, Fox joined me for a one-on-one podcast interview about the job, her thoughts on patient engagement and the experience of working for the federal government after years in the private sector.
In the first minute of this recording (total running time is 15:09), Fox mentioned the late Dr. Tom Ferguson, considered by many the father of the e-patient movement. Fox had said during her keynote, “For me, the most important ‘e’ word for e-patients is engagement.” The “e” could mean electronic or empowered as well.
Fox talked about her “startup DNA,” based on her experience with startup companies in the 1990s. When she first started at what is now called Pew Research Center, that organization was run like a startup, and her work for 14 years there revolved around data. She eventually found a niche following people with rare diseases.
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The federal government is notoriously slow to innovate, something Fox said she hopes to change that through the HHS Idea Lab. She noted during her talk and during this interview that the Idea Lab is hiring three entrepreneurs-in-residence, and encouraged people to apply.
Fox, a proponent of the “data liberación” strategy in government, also highlighted the fact that there are some pockets of innovation within the federal bureaucracy. She cited David Hale, who created and runs the Pillbox project at the National Library of Medicine.
Listen here:
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