The White House named former Google executive Megan Smith as its new chief technology officer to succeed Athenahealth co-founder and HHS veteran Todd Park, who is credited with helping rescue HealthCare.gov.
The Obama administration announced the appointment Thursday in a blog post, which also introduced Alexander Macgillivray, most recently of Twitter, as Smith's deputy.
Smith was involved in a variety of executive roles with Google, but most recently with its Google[x] project, which focuses on R&D for long-term bets in technology. Google[x] has attempted a number of innovations in healthcare, including a contact lens that can sense glucose through tears. Most recently, Google announced a partnership with pharmaceutical firm AbbVie to explore treatments for aging.
Macgillivray was general counsel at Twitter and became widely known as a champion of free speech on the Internet. The White House said he would focus on “Internet policy, intellectual property policy, and the intersection of big data, technology and privacy.”
Follow Darius Tahir on Twitter: @dariustahir
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