Fridsma leaving ONC for AMIA chief role

Doug Fridsma, MD, PhD, chief science officer in the Office of the National Coordinator of Health IT, is leaving the agency to become president and CEO of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA).

In a letter to ONC staff, ONC head Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, said, "Doug has been a key technical advisor to me and my predecessors on matters related to standards, research, informatics and our work within interoperability both within the U.S. and internationally. He has been a tireless advocate for the adoption and use of standards development and harmonization, a respected and articulate spokesperson for ONC, and has led our efforts to identify and promote innovative advances in health IT." 

DeSalvo identified Fridsma's work to create the Standards & Interoperability Framework as his "signature accomplishment. Through that program, ONC has engaged the health IT community in an open and transparent process, solving critical challenges that help improve the sharing and use of electronic health information across the healthcare system."

Before that, Fridsma was closely involved in transforming ONC's Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN) program into a public-private partnership which is now successfully managed outside of ONC.

Fridsma will begin his role at AMIA in November. Meanwshile, Erica Galvez took on a new role as interoperability portfolio manager earlier this year and will continue to focus on interoperability while Steve Posnack will continue in the role he took on several months ago as director of The Office of Standards and Technology.