The former CIO of the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services has joined Agilex Technologies, a provider health information exchange technology and services.

Melissa Chapman has joined the Chantilly, VA advisory firm in the newly created position, VP of Health Solutions. Chapman spent 15 years working for the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, (HHS), in roles which included a stint as acting CIO of the Food & Drug Administration. Chapman's last federal post was CIO of HHS before leaving the government five years ago for work as a principal at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton.

Chapman's latest endeavor is to help her new employer, Agilex, better understand the business problems, challenges, and culture of federal and state government, especially within health agencies, said Larry Albert, president of Agilex healthcare sector business.

Agilex already provides key technology-related services to federal healthcare agencies, including project management and software development related to Connect, an open-source gateway used by about two dozen federal agencies to exchange data via the Nationwide Health Information Network (NIHN).

Before leaving HHS, Chapman played an important role in the development of NIHN. She led the establishment of the Federal Health Architecture, (FHA), which guided the federal government's participation in initiatives such as NIHN.

FHA was launched not long after 9/11 and the subsequent release of a Government Accountability Office study expressing concerns about the 70 systems used in the government for tracking health surveillance related data, Chapman said. While CIO at HHS, Chapman helped lead efforts to consolidate and standardize approaches to IT security and compliance.

Chapman will also play a role as Agilex as work continues to add new services to the Connect open source gateway.

Read InformationWeek's first-ever analysis of top CIOs in federal, state, and local government, and how they're embracing new expectations. Download the report here (registration required).