President announces innovation fellows program

The White House announced the 18 inaugural members of the presidential innovation fellows program, an initiative that will bring individuals with experience in the private sector to work on one of five projects in Washington, D.C. for six-month durations.

Projects were selected based on their ability to provide immediate benefits to citizens and are aimed at job creation, saving taxpayer money and improving American lives, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park said in an Aug. 23 statement. The 18 fellows were selected from a pool of nearly 700 applicants.

One of the projects aims to increase adoption of and improve the Blue Button, a tool initially used by the Department of Veterans Affairs that allows healthcare beneficiaries to locate and download their health information from the internet.  

Fellows selected to work on the Blue Button for America project include: 

• Henry Wei, MD, a practicing physician and informatics expert from New York City;
• Ryan Panchadsaram, an entrepreneur from San Francisco; and
• Matt McCall, an information systems expert from Baltimore.

Visit the presidential innovation fellows program website to learn more about Blue Button for America.