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Potomac Senior Adjunct Fellow, Jonathan Javitt, Receives Presidential Appointment

8 May, 2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 8, 2003

Potomac Senior Fellow receives Presidential Appointment Arlington, VA -- The White House announced today the appointment of Prof. Jonathan C. Javitt, M.D., M.P.H., a Senior Adjunct Fellow of the Potomac Institute to serve on the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee.

Dr. Javitt, who joined the Potomac Institute in early 2002, is a physician with a long history and involvement with healthcare-related information technology projects. In 1984, Dr. Javitt authored Computers in Medicine: Applications and Possibilities, one of the earliest books in the field. Since that time, he has been involved in the development and commercialization of a variety of healthcare computer applications, including electronic medical record systems, epidemiologic tracking systems, and most recently, sentinel systems for detecting medical errors. A more complete biography is available at www.potomacinstitute.org/who/staff_javitt.cfm.

The President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) was chartered by Congress under the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (P. L. 102-194) and the Next Generation Internet Act of 1998 (P. L. 105-305). The Committee provides the President, Congress, and the Federal agencies involved in information technology research and development (IT R&D) with expert, independent advice on maintaining America's preeminence in advanced information technologies, including such critical elements of the national infrastructure as high performance computing, large-scale networking, and high assurance software and systems design.

In the past, the PITAC has focused on the national priority around developing health information technology infrastructure and issued an executive report to the President on that topic in 2001 (www.hpcc.gov/pubs/pitac/pitac-hc-9feb01.pdf). Over the past two years Secretary Thompson and other senior officials of the Department of Health and Human Services have amplified the need to increase the use of information technology solutions within health care in order to reduce medical error and to improve efficiency. The Potomac Institute has contributed to that effort through its support of the ENCOMPASS (Enhanced Consequence Management Planning and Support System) program. The Institute also acts as an evaluator of several of the military's developmental medical biosurveillance prototypes.

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The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies is an independent, 501(c)(3), not-for-profit public policy research institute, and is dedicated to the development and implementation of policies that advocate and manage the increasing role of science and technology in our evolving world. The Potomac Institute fiercely maintains objectivity and credibility, remaining independent of any federal or state agency, and owing no special allegiance to any single political party or private concern.