Dr. Mona Siddiqui, who has served for three years in the Office of the CTO at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced this week that she would depart the agency as chief data officer.

WHY IT MATTERS
In a blog post, Siddiqui praised her HHS Data Team for helping realize and array of accomplishments over the past three years, including development of technology stack enabling wider data sharing across HHS, implementing a more refined approach to data governance and the launch of a data science and AI training program.

More generally, she expressed thanks for the team's work with "a broad group of stakeholders to move the department forward in its strategy on opioids, AI, data privacy, collaboration with states and social determinants of health."

THE LARGER TREND
Speaking at the Health 2.0 Annual Conference in Santa Clara, California, this past September, Siddiqui gave a progress report on some of the agency's population-focused data innovations across 50 states and five territories.

"The scope and scale of data which HHS is the steward of is enormous," she said. "The efforts that are undertaken by frontline staff every day to ensure that the right information is getting connected to address a public health crisis or to try and anticipate an emerging public health threat are herculean. I think it's not overstating it to say (that) connecting disparate information in these ways and deploying it, with partnerships with both public and private entities, is saving lives."

ON THE RECORD
On Twitter, HHS CTO Ed Simcox thanked Siddiqui for her work at the agency:

It is bittersweet to announce that Mona Siddiqui is leaving HHS. While we will miss her greatly, she will continue to champion open data. Working with Mona has been a privilege. She leaves our data portfolio in a good place. https://t.co/KXmkimwBGg

— Ed Simcox (@HHSCTO) January 16, 2020