Ed Simcox, formerly the chief technology officer and acting CIO of the HHS, has joined precision medicine software company LifeOmic as chief strategy officer, joining a slew of others leaving the HHS technology office to join the private sector.
In his new role, Mr. Simcox will lead LifeOmic's corporate and product strategies, focusing specifically on health and security products, according to a Feb. 19 announcement sent to Becker's Hospital Review. LifeOmic's core product is a cloud-based database of patient profiles spanning whole genome sequencing data, lab results, imaging data and more.
"As I've met with health startups across the nation, I've realized that precision medicine is at an exciting inflection point. Recent advances in technology coupled with enhanced access to rich, diverse health data are creating exciting market opportunities, but more importantly, opportunities to positively impact people's health in a fundamental way. This is why I am so excited to join LifeOmic," Mr. Simcox said in the announcement.
His departure from the HHS comes about one month after Mona Siddiqui, MD, was reported to be leaving her position as chief data officer in the HHS' CTO office to take on a senior vice president role at Humana.
Additionally, Politico reports, Sandeep Patel, the HHS' Open Innovation Manager and director of the CTO office's KidneyX health tech project, announced his own upcoming departure from the office in a Feb. 18 blog post, and Margeaux Akazawa, director of internal innovation programs in the office, reportedly departed last week.
More articles on health IT:
How health IT companies compare financially
Records destroyed in ransomware attack at Colorado provider
Hackensack Meridian Health faces lawsuit following ransomware attack