Chief Data Officer (OCIO)

Alan Sim, PhD

Dr. Alan Sim brings a wealth of leadership, knowledge, and experience to CDC. He is an experienced and innovative thought leader with over 20+ years of business development and management of health informatics initiatives at many agencies and organizations at the military, federal, and state and local levels.

Most recently, Dr. Sim held leadership and technical roles in the Enterprise Intelligence & Data Solutions (EIDS) Program Management Office in the Defense Health Agency/Department of Defense. He served as the first chief for the Data Innovation Branch as well as chief data scientist for EIDS and was responsible for providing the vision and goals associated with data innovation, applied data science, and research. He led a team of analysts, statisticians, and data scientists to apply innovative predictive and big analytic techniques to support operational and research studies within the Department of Defense as well as with external academic partners. Dr. Sim has spearheaded joint incentive fund innovation grants/awards focused on opioid safety, suicide prevention, and interagency predictive analytics with the Veterans Health Administration and Department of Energy.

Dr. Sim has served in other leadership and management positions, including senior epidemiologist and informatician in the Air Force Medical Service’s Population Health Support Division and business process consultant at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is one of the early graduates of the CDC’s Public Health Informatics Fellowship Program and supported CDC’s National Electronic Disease Surveillance System vocabulary and data standards initiatives.

Dr. Sim received his doctoral degree in epidemiology from Drexel University’s School of Public Health and a master of science degree in community health/epidemiology from the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston.