HHS reports changes in deputy IT, artificial intelligence leadership
The Department of Health and Human Services made several changes to its IT leadership recently, including the addition of a new acting deputy chief information officer and acting deputy chief AI officer.
A webpage listing leadership within the Office of the Chief Information Officer currently has David Hong as acting deputy CIO and Arman Sharma as acting deputy chief AI officer. Meanwhile, Kevin Duvall, who was previously deputy CIO and acting deputy CAIO, is no longer on the page.
HHS didn’t respond to requests for comment Friday submitted though HHS’s email form and to spokespeople. FedScoop also attempted to contact Duvall separately.
The apparent change-up comes amid reports of a personnel shake-up at the health agency. On Friday, CNN reported that two top aides to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were departing and new senior counselors would be installed. Those changes were related to preparations for midterm elections, per CNN.
It is not clear if the IT leadership changes were for similar reasons.
While there is no public indication of when Hong and Sharma began serving as acting deputies, the changes appear to have been made recently. The webpage itself says that it was updated Wednesday, and a version of it cached in the Internet Archive on Feb. 2 still shows Duvall in both roles.
The update also clarifies that Michael McFarland is the acting executive officer in the CIO’s office. He was previously not listed as acting. Together, the changes mean that of the 10 roles listed on the page, seven of them have an acting — rather than permanent — official serving in them.