Alastair Thomson has expanded his role with the National Institutes of Health by taking on an additional post as senior adviser for data technology innovation at the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, according to a LinkedIn post.
As senior adviser, Thomson is responsible for defining and developing new generation data infrastructure to support ARPA-H initiatives. He will focus on innovation, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, digital twins and cloud-based analytics.
The official will also continue working as chief information officer at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, where he has served for over 13 years.
Thomson began his NIH career in August 2002, when he joined the government organization as a software process consultant. Since then, he climbed the ranks and became CIO of NHLBI in September 2013.
Thomson’s professional efforts extend to his work as owner and principal consultant of Strategy Insight, a small business that utilizes software development processes and management approaches to assist customers in developing and executing information technology strategies.