ALPHABET / GOOGLE HIRE DR. KAREN B. DESALVO AS CHIEF HEALTH OFFICER
Alphabet/Google ( NASDAQ: GOOGL ) continue to build out their healthcare organization with distinguished leadership staff additions encompassing medical, commercial and government experience.
Alphabet/Google advance its clinical and business healthcare mission with another strategic executive hire
Dr. Karen B. DeSalvo, currently a professor at the Dell Medical School, the University of Texas in Austin, will be the first person to have the title of Chief Health Officer for Alphabet /Google. The company announced as they progress through a steady workstream of healthcare-centered initiatives involving Google Health and Verily Life Sciences. At Dell Medical School, she has two roles as Professor, Department of Internal Medicine and Professor, Department of Population Health.
… Dr. DeSalvo possesses exceptional medical, business and government experience …
Dr. DeSalvo’s clinical and administrative healthcare academic credentials differentiate her from persons with pure technical or pure healthcare backgrounds
Dr. DeSalvo’s academic and medical credentials include:
- MD — Tulane University School of Medicine
- MSc — Clinical Epidemiology — Harvard University
- MS — Public Health — Tulane University
- BA — Biology / Political Science — Suffolk University
Government and public health leadership experience is part of Dr. DeSalvo’s career
Dr. DeSalvo has held several Federal government posts including:
- Acting Assistant Secretary for Health
- National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
- Director of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Dr. DeSalvo’s healthcare and technical experience in the government sector is well-established. She held two leadership positions in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). ONC is at the forefront of the healthcare IT efforts in the United States. It is a driving resource for the entire U.S. health system to support the adoption of health information technology and the promotion of nationwide health information portability and sharing.
Organizationally, ONC resides within the Office of the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ONC is the principal federal entity charged with coordination of nationwide efforts to implement and use the most advanced health information technology and the electronic exchange of health information.
Healthcare business plus municipal executive leadership is another element of Dr. DeSalvo’s professional profile
On the commercial side, Dr. DeSalvo has worked at Welltower ( NYSE: WELL; a healthcare real estate and medical facility investment firm headquartered in Toledo, OH) and Humana ( NYSE: HUM; leading health insurance and managed care organization based in Louisville, KY) in Director-level roles. She was also Commissioner of Health for the City of New Orleans. Academically, an additional role she has held is a Vice Dean position at Tulane University School of Medicine.
… Alphabet / Google focused on advanced healthcare technology innovation …
Just weeks ago, Alphabet announced the hiring of Dr. Robert M. Califf, a medical professor from Duke University and a former FDA commissioner. He is now head of strategy for Google Health and Verily Life Sciences. Over a year ago they signed on former Geisinger Health CEO Dr. David Feinberg as Head of Google Health, who is responsible for the hiring of Dr. Califf and Dr. DeSalvo.
Moving forward, Alphabet and Dr. DeSalvo have big plans
Alphabet has long term, large scale plans for the healthcare industry. Their present enterprises span pharmaceutical research & development, medical device engineering, cloud computing, genetics, voice recognition technology ( VRT ), artificial intelligence ( AI ) and medical imaging (with an advanced focus in oncology diagnosis and treatment).
The bandwidth of their ventures demonstrates the array of uses Alphabet’s growing technology innovation has throughout healthcare and life sciences industries. There are great expectations for their clinical and commercial success to continue based on Dr. DeSalvo’s hiring as well as other medical and technical leaders.
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