Obama names Harvard doc as health IT chief

Last Friday, Harvard Medical School professor Dr. David Blumenthal was named the national coordinator for health information technology according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Blumenthal also has served as an adviser to Obama's administration on all matters healthcare. 

Blumenthal will replace Dr. Robert Kolodner, who was known for "assembling the technology and policy building blocks of the national health information network." 

Blumenthal also has served as the director of the Institute for Health Policy at The Massachusetts General Hospital/Partners HealthCare System, and as vice president of Brigham and Women's Hospital, among other posts. Blumenthal worked on Sen. Edward Kennedy's (D-MA) subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research in the 1970s. 

"I understand the enormous potential of this technology," Blumenthal said. "President Obama has laid out a vision of health reform that is both inspiring and long overdue. We cannot make that vision a reality without the help of our most advanced computer technology." 

For more on Dr. Blumenthal's new role:
- check out the Government HealthIT story
- read this press release

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