AT&T announced this week the appointment of Dr. Geeta Nayyar to the company’s newly created Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) position. Dr. Nayyar previously served as Principal Medical Officer at Vangent and CMO at Apco Worldwide. Dr. Nayyar will take the lead of the company's ForHealth strategy.
“Now is a particularly exciting time in the healthcare industry because technology is being embraced like never before," Dr. Nayyar stated in a press release. "Stakeholders from payers to providers and consumers are recognizing the value that innovative health technologies can bring to challenges that have plagued our healthcare system for years."
AT&T touts Dr. Nayyar's "industry expertise in evidence-based medicine, health outcomes, disease management and wellness" and believes those will help her "translate healthcare issues and technology implications with a wide range of stakeholders including physicians, patients, providers, policymakers and consumers." Given the convergence of mobile technology and healthcare, many large organizations working in mobile health depend on people like Dr. Nayyar to be able to talk the languages of each industry.
Nayaar holds memberships and committee appointments with the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, the American College of Rheumatology, the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems and the American Medical Association.
AT&T has kept busy in the mHealth space, announcing partnerships over the last couple of years with a number of companies, including WellDoc, Vitality, and MedApps. It also recently entered the imaging space with a cloud-based service offering, AT&T Medical Imaging and Information Management service, which launched earlier this summer.
MobiHealthNews' contributing editor Neil Versel interviewed Julee Thompson, whom Sprint recently appointed as its Chief Healthcare Executive.
Verizon Business, a part of Verizon, which owns 55 percent of mobile operator Verizon Wireless, used to have a chief medical officer -- Dr. Peter Tippett. Dr. Tippett now holds the title of vice president research and technology in Verizon Business' Security Solution's group. Tippett also helms some of the telecom's mobile health efforts: He recently announced Verizon's move to make its universal identity service solution mobile-friendly.
Read the full press release about AT&T's new CMIO below.
PRESS RELEASE -- Continuing its strong momentum in delivering healthcare solutions to patients and the institutions that serve them, AT&T* today announced the appointment of Geeta Nayyar, M.D., M.B.A. as the company’s first Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO).
As CMIO, Dr. Nayyar will guide the overall AT&T ForHealthSM strategy by providing industry expertise in evidence-based medicine, health outcomes, disease management and wellness. She will also help translate healthcare issues and technology implications with a wide range of stakeholders including physicians, patients, providers, policymakers and consumers. Dr. Nayyar complements AT&T’s deep bench of healthcare industry experts in the AT&T ForHealth practice area focused on delivering advanced IT solutions to healthcare industry businesses.
Dr. Nayyar received her Medical Doctor and Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Miami. She received her Master of Business Administration from George Washington University, where she practices and teaches as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Department of Rheumatology. Most recently, she served as Principal Medical Officer at Vangent Inc. and previously as Chief Medical Officer at Apco Worldwide Inc.
"Dr. Nayyar has dedicated her career to helping patients manage chronic conditions, so she understands first-hand how technology has the potential to improve disease management and lead to better patient outcomes,” said Randall Porter, Assistant Vice President, AT&T ForHealth. “Her unique perspective of bridging clinical medicine, business, communications and Health IT will further drive our technology solutions designed to help the healthcare industry improve patient care and reduce costs.”
“Now is a particularly exciting time in the healthcare industry because technology is being embraced like never before. Stakeholders from payers to providers and consumers are recognizing the value that innovative health technologies can bring to challenges that have plagued our healthcare system for years,” said Dr. Nayyar. “As a premier network and technology leader, AT&T is uniquely positioned to offer healthcare solutions that can help improve the overall quality of care in our country.”
As a practicing physician, Dr. Nayyar brings a comprehensive viewpoint to AT&T though her extensive experience in clinical medicine, health technologies, health policy, medical communications and public health. She also holds memberships and committee appointments in several professional organizations including the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, the American College of Rheumatology, the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems and the American Medical Association.
