NIH Names Former Intelligence Leader as New CIO

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will kick off the new year with a new CIO, tapping Adele Merritt to lead the agency’s tech priorities IT strategy, policy, governance, security and oversight, NIH Director Dr. Monica Bertagnolli announced last month.

“With more than 20 years of experience in cyber and national security operations, Merritt is well positioned to drive the strategic direction of NIH IT resources and infrastructure,” said Bertagnolli. “Her breadth of experience and passion for harnessing technology to drive mission outcomes will be invaluable to NIH in advancing cutting-edge IT solutions in support of biomedical research and public health.”

Before joining NIH, Merritt served as the Intelligence Community (IC) CIO within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Merritt told GovCIO Media & Research that her previous experience helped prepare her for her role at NIH and familiarized her with working in a federated environment.

“The Intelligence Community consists of 18 elements, each with their own unique missions, much like NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers,” said Merritt. “I also led several governance forums to ensure our efforts were aligned with the 18 elements users’ needs and mission requirements.”

According to Merritt, as the IC CIO, she was responsible for setting the vision and direction for the community and conducting oversight. Each of the 18 IC elements handled the implementation and execution to accommodate their specific mission needs.

“I likened my role as IC CIO to being bookends. One bookend is responsible for setting vision and direction, while the other bookend conducts oversight,” said Merritt. “The books held together by these bookends were written by the Intelligence Community, but the overall structure was set forth by the CIO. Without the IC CIO setting and sharing the vision, we would risk our interoperability.”

Merritt will report to Sean Mooney, who serves as the Associate Director for Information Technology, Cyberinfrastructure and Cybersecurity and director of the Center for Information Technology at NIH.  She will collaborate with Mooney to advise agency leadership on IT matters.

“I am so excited to be joining the team at NIH,” said Merritt. “I look forward to continuing to find ways to advance IT solutions in support of biomedical research and public health.”