Meet the Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS)

Dr. Susan Gregurick was appointed Associate Director for Data Science and the Director of ODSS in September 2019. Under Dr. Gregurick’s leadership and guided by the NIH’s Strategic Plan for Data Science, ODSS leads and coordinates catalytic data science activities in scientific, technical, and operational programs in collaboration with the NIH institutes, centers, and offices.

Read Dr. Gregurick’s full bio.

Dr. Belinda Seto was appointed deputy director of the ODSS in January 2020. A former deputy director of the National Eye Institute and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, she brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the position. After earning her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Purdue University, Dr. Seto completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Stadtman Lab of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. She researched hepatitis B and vaccine development at the FDA. She oversaw the analysis and reporting of NIH grants data and trends through the Office of Extramural Research. Her experience in database management, analysis and extramural grants policies led her to serve on the NIH Scientific Data Council and the Scientific Data Policy Council.

Dr. Laura Biven is the data science technical lead for ODSS. In this role she is responsible for strategic planning, coordination, and oversight in cloud computing, platform interoperability, and bringing together the computer science and biomedical communities. Before joining the NIH, Laura spent 12 years at the Department of Energy, where she led strategic efforts in data management and data science including the development of the department-wide data management plan requirements, a new stewardship model for high-valued public data repositories, and new research avenues to better leverage DOE data and advance AI. Prior to joining DOE, Laura was an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, serving first in the U.S. Department of Agriculture and then at the Department of State. Laura completed her higher education in the United Kingdom; she holds a MSci in math and physics from the University of Bristol and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Warwick.

Ishwar Chandramouliswaran is a Program Director and technical lead for the strategy, planning, coordination and oversight of establishing a FAIR data ecosystem at ODSS.

Prior to joining ODSS, Ishwar served as the Deputy Director and operationalized NIAID’s newly established office of data science and emerging technologies and successfully developed trans-NIAID program initiatives that focused on data reuse, research software development, and establishing a NIAID Data Ecosystem. Prior to joining NIAID, Ishwar was an Associate Director at the National Cancer Institute’s, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology and contributed to innovative programs and technology supporting open and collaborative team science to accelerate research in the cancer informatics community including the cancer genomics cloud and NCI hub projects.

His career has spanned scientific research in bioinformatics to product development in academic and commercial settings, and his work driven by both research community needs and emerging technologies. His non-governmental experience includes serving as a subject matter expert at IBM Corporation towards realizing translational science through their clinical genomics engagements with noteworthy projects at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF); and as a bioinformatics scientist at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and Celera Genomics. Ishwar is one of the authors of the landmark Science publications on the sequence of the human genome and holds patents in gene discovery. Ishwar holds an MS in Biochemistry from University of Maryland at College Park and an MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Alison Lin joined ODSS in 2022 to lead the Training, Workforce Initiatives and Community Engagement team. In this role, she is responsible for the planning and implementation of strategies to grow a diverse and strong data science workforce that serves all communities. Dr. Lin oversees the management of programs including the DATA National Scholar program and the Coding it Forward Civic Digital Fellow program.

Beginning in 2012, Dr. Lin served as Program Director and later Deputy and Acting Branch Chief at the Diversity Training Branch (DTB) of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI’s) Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD). She has developed and led several significant efforts in promoting the cancer research workforce diversity both extramurally and intramurally, including the NCI Youth Enjoy Science (YES) Research Education Program (R25), the Early Investigator Advancement Program and the intramural training program iCURE. She also led the management of the diversity and re-entry and re-integration supplement programs at NCI. Prior to joining NCI, Dr. Lin served as an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. She conducted interdisciplinary research focused on understanding the molecular interactions of membrane proteins and their signaling mechanisms, particularly those that modulate the cytoskeleton. Dr. Lin received her Ph.D. in physics/biophysics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and her B.S. in physics, summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Dr. Vivian Ota Wang currently applies her expertise in racial identity, community engagement, and research participant protections to data science as the policy and COVID activities lead for ODSS. Previously, she was the deputy director of the National Cancer Institute’s Office of Data Sharing in the Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology and a program director for data access and sharing and the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) Research Program at the National Human Genome Research Institute. Vivian also developed public engagement and ELSI guidance for nanoscience and nanotechnology at the National Science and Technology Council under the Bush and Obama administrations. Prior to joining the NIH, Vivian was a genetic counselor at the University of Colorado and held tenure-track faculty positions at three universities. She received a B.A. in biology from Colorado College, a M.S. in genetic counseling from the University of Colorado, and a MPhil and Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Columbia University.

Shu (Sue) Hui Chen received her Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and Cellular and Developmental Physiology in 2009 from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She came to the NIH, specifically the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), in 2010 where her postdoctoral work focused on studying molecular and comparative genomics to investigate underlying host-pathogen interactions and factors that contribute to pathogen crossing of the blood-brain barrier.

Sue comes to us from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) a part of the US National Institutes of Health, where she served as the Data Access Committee Chair and Genomics Program Administrator for NHLBI. Her position focused on the Policies and Operations that feed into Data Management and Sharing for the IC including strategizing and applying solutions to enhance responsible data sharing for the IC. She specializes in genomics research programs involving infectious disease, immunology, resilience and how these factors affect heart, lung, blood, and sleep in human health and disease, while ensuring protection of human subjects. Her past experience in Patenting, Licensing, and collaborative agreements included serving on a special projects committee to re-evaluate the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ (NIAID) technology transfer Human Subjects Research Checklist in order to comply with the NIH Human Subjects research policy and the Common Rule (45 CFR part 46) for sharing and receiving of human samples and associated data. She is NIH IRB certified and serves on trans-NIH committees related to data sharing with regards to human subjects protections. She was also an important contributor to the NHLBI programs such as TOPMed and BioData Catalyst.

Dr. Bryan Kim has a background in health services and healthcare delivery research with a focus in generating new knowledge and translational science through data science tools and technologies to improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. Prior to joining ODSS, Dr. Kim served as a Program Director in the Healthcare Delivery Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), working on research grants that focused on healthcare delivery and outcomes research related to cancer patients and survivors living with other chronic conditions. He also served as NCI’s scientific research contact on two trans-NIH funding opportunities focused on multimorbidity research. Prior to NCI, Dr. Kim served as a Program Official within the Division of Health IT at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Dr. Kim received his BS in Psychology, MS in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology from the University of Florida, and PhD in Kinesiology from Temple University. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Health Behavior Research under Dr. Karen Glanz at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Hsinyi “Steve” Tsang is a clinical informatics program director for ODSS. In this role, he promotes the use of clinical standards, such as Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR), in biomedical research by developing and conducting training and education activities. Steve has spent most of the last two decades at the NIH in various capacities. Prior to joining ODSS, he was a program officer at NIAID where he administered and oversaw data science projects in immune-mediated and infectious diseases. For the broader research community, Steve has been promoting data science training as well as the use of emerging technologies including cloud computing, software containerization, and workflow management for reproducible biomedical data science research. He received a B.S. in Biochemistry from University of Maryland College Park and a Ph.D. in biology/structural bioinformatics from the Johns Hopkins University, as part of the NIH Graduate Partnerships Program (GPP).

Brandon Costerison is a communication specialist in ODSS. He works to develop and implement a comprehensive and holistic communication strategy, serving internal and external audiences. Brandon previously served as Press Secretary for the DC Department of Employment Services and as Policy and Press Coordinator at PreventEd, a substance use disorder prevention nonprofit. At PreventEd, Brandon oversaw policy implementation, paid and earned media efforts, and managed an opioid overdose prevention grant. Brandon earned his BA in Communication at Auburn University and MA in Communication and Leadership from Gonzaga University.

George Coy joined ODSS in March 2022, bringing with him many years of experience as an NIH budget officer. Most recently, Coy supported the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), and prior to that the national Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA). He retired from Federal service in February 2020, and since then has provided advice and assistance to both the national Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) and to the AllofUs program. Coy began his career at the NIH in an intramural lab characterizing RNA tumor viruses before transitioning to administration via NIH's Management Intern Program.

Christian Evans is a project manager for the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) under ODSS. Before joining ODSS, Christian spent four years as a project manager for the Psychological Health Promotion Branch of the Psychological Health Center of Excellence under the Defense Health Agency (DHA). Prior to joining DHA, Christian worked with a variety of federal agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Consumer Protection Finance Bureau, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Christian earned a M.A. in economics from George Washington University and a M.Div. from Yale University.

Dr. John Gachago joined ODSS to identify the challenges with using Electronic Health Records for health disparities research and the implications of applying ML/AI techniques to this data without adequately addressing these challenges. Additionally, he facilitates AI-Ethics labs and serves as an ODSS liaison to the NIH AIM-AHEAD Advisory Committee. Dr. Gachago is the CEO and Co-founder of E-Health Solutions, LLC, a digital health consulting firm. His previous career was in international logistics and the pharmaceutical industry and he has led from inception to market launch two mobile health/telemedicine platforms and published several articles and white papers on digital health related to rural healthcare intelligence, blockchain technology for lower middle-income countries, and strategic planning for health information technology. Dr. Gachago has consulted on national eHealth strategy for countries including Rwanda, Kenya, Haiti, and Ghana.

Ashley Hackett joined ODSS in 2022 to support the communications team in educating the wider NIH community and its external audience on ODSS activities and successes. Prior to joining ODSS, Hackett was a government contractor for the General Services Administration (GSA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). She also worked on a variety of journalistic projects, with articles published in outlets including the Washington Post, CNN, MarketWatch, MinnPost, and ProPublica. She received her undergraduate degree and her master’s degree in journalism and mass communications from Northwestern University.

Rebecca Hardesty is the executive assistant to Drs. Gregurick and Seto. Prior to joining ODSS, Rebecca supported the NIH Office of Science Policy for seven years. She has previously worked as a contractor for various government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security and the National Science Foundation, providing professional administrative and emergency management support.

Zoe is a management analyst for the ODSS Policy and COVID Activities Unit. Before joining ODSS, Zoe was a Systems Certification Coordinator at the Minnesota Department of Human Services (MN DHS). In this role, she ensured the state’s compliance with federal standards and regulations pertaining to Medicare and Medicaid management electronic systems.

Prior to joining MN DHS, Zoe was an Operations Coordinator at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). She also served as a Program Analyst at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). She received a B.S. in Biology and Genome Sciences and Policy Certificate from Duke University.

Larry Holt supports ODSS by providing cybersecurity support for the Researcher Auth Service Initiative and Cloud Interoperability programs. Holt has over 30 years of experience in the design, delivery, and assessment of complex large-scale cloud, hybrid, and on-premises security architectures, as well as enterprise security programs and enterprise regulatory compliance assurance programs.

Lucy joined ODSS in 2022, bringing extended experience in data management, FAIR data sharing, workflows, and interoperability. She previously worked at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) where she served as a program director for the BioLINCC Data Repository, a key member of the NHLBI BioData Catalyst integration team, a voting member of the NHLBI Data Access Committee, and a sub-task lead of the NHLBI Implementation Working Group for the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy. Lucy has a background in Biostatistics from the University of Oklahoma. She has worked in the healthcare field for 18 years prior coming to NIH/NHLBI in 2011. Her career research topics including business intelligence, data mining, and applied advance statistical modeling, disease surveillance for US military, FDA mini-Sentinel Initiative projects, and community-level healthcare access and safety net for vulnerable population.

Before joining ODSS, Dr. Isokpehi held faculty and director positions at Jackson State University in Mississippi and Bethune-Cookman University in Florida. He was a Senior National Research Council Research Associate for the project “Leveraging Big Data for Enhanced Pavement Management” at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), McLean, Virginia. He earned Ph.D. in Medical Microbiology from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and completed Post-Doctoral Bioinformatics Fellowship at the South African National Bioinformatics Institute. Dr. Isokpehi is a Certified Research Administrator (CRA).

Prior to joining ODSS, Carol Loose worked for the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research for 12 years as a Budget Analyst and 5 years as the Budget Officer. Previously, she worked for the Department of Defense in several budgetary positions. She attended the University of Kansas and the University of Hawaii.

Dr. Fenglou Mao is the program officer for cloud computing programs. He oversees multiple cloud computing programs including the NIH Science and Technology Research Infrastructure for Discovery, Experimentation, and Sustainability (STRIDES) Initiative. He also leads the NIH-NSF interagency program Smart & Connected Health (SCH). Prior to joining the office, he was a data scientist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases focusing on portfolio analysis and project management. Before joining NIH, Dr. Mao was a bioinformatician in the Biotechnology Center in University of Wisconsin-Madison and an assistant research scientist in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Georgia. He received his B.S. in 1996 and his Ph.D. in 2001 in physical chemistry from Peking University.

Elaine O. Nsoesie is the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) program lead for the ODSS. She is also an assistant professor at Boston University School of Public Health and an assistant director of research at Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. Elaine is a founding member of the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences and a Data Science Faculty Fellow at Boston University. She has a Ph.D. in computational epidemiology, a M.S. in statistics, and a B.S. in mathematics. Her research focuses on the use of digital data and technology to improve health in communities globally. Prior to joining Boston University School of Public Health, Elaine was an assistant professor at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, Washington.

Dr. Christopher Siwy is a data scientist for the Integrated Infrastructure & Emerging Technologies Unit, where he coordinates initiatives in cloud platform interoperability and focuses on engagement with NIH ICs on the Researcher-Auth-Service (RAS) program. Prior to joining ODSS, he led NIH Clinical Center custom EHR software solutions and was instrumental in the development of a web platform for managing asymptomatic COVID-19 testing and vaccine administration of the NIH workforce. Christopher received his Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology from George Mason University where he performed molecular dynamics simulations targeting the human blood-brain barrier for Alzheimer’s Disease research. He received his M.S. in Computer Science from the Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. in Management Science and Information Systems from the Pennsylvania State University, where he participated in a biodiversity field study in 1999 to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. He is also a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).