HHS names Maryland innovation chief as CTO

HHS has named Bryan Sivak, currently Maryland's chief innovation officer, as chief technology officer, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Dr. Farzad Mostashari confirmed late Thursday.

Sivak succeeds Todd Park, who was named federal CTO in March. Sivak has served as Maryland's chief innovation officer since April 2011, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was the first person named to that role in Maryland. Previously, Sivak was CTO for the District of Columbia.

Like Park, who co-founded a health information technology company, Athenahealth, Sivak has an IT entrepreneurial bent, having founded InQuira, a San Francisco-area privately held developer of customer support software. Oracle acquired InQuira in 2011.