Speakers

Vid Desai is a seasoned technology leader who brings more than 30 years of experience in the information technology (IT) field, with over 26 years in the healthcare and life sciences industries. He has previous experience working for large Pharma, Clinical Research Organizations (CRO) and Medical Device companies.

As the FDA’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), Mr. Desai sets and leads the agency’s IT strategy, as well as the agency’s enterprise IT, data management, and cybersecurity in the Office of Digital Transformation (ODT). The ODT team oversees the overall FDA IT spend of more than $750M and a staff of around 2,500 employees and contractors. Prior to being named CIO, Mr. Desai served as the FDA’s Chief Technology Officer, overseeing day-to-day technology operations as the leader of the Office of Information Management and Information Technology.

Prior to joining the FDA, Vid held the Chief Information Officer (CIO) roles at Vyaire Medical, a Respiratory Medical Device company formed from a divestiture from Becton Dickinson. He was CIO at Endochoice, a GI device and services provider, and Lake Region Medical, which was acquired by Greatbach to form Integer, a medical device, outsource manufacturer. Vid’s previous experience includes IT leadership roles with large clinical research organizations and pharmaceuticals, including Quintiles Transnational, where he served as executive director, Global IT Infrastructure. Prior to Quintiles, Vid held several leadership positions of increasing responsibility with GlaxoSmithKline. Vid started his career in IT as a software engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation in Reading, U.K.

Vid holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science (first class with honors) from
Royal Holloway College, University of London.

Andrea Fletcher is a global health expert, focusing on epidemiology and health information
systems. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Digital Service at the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In this role she is responsible for leading digital
modernization efforts at CMS, which promote interoperability and public access to health
data.
Prior to her digital service role, Andrea spent most of the last 10 years traveling around the
world building digital health systems across 20+ countries, primarily working in sub-Saharan
Africa. She has built mobile apps for healthcare workers, integrated biometric IDs into
electronic health record systems, designed national-level interoperability layers, and
deployed new disease surveillance systems making contributions to pandemic responses in
Ebola, HIV, and COVID-19.
Andrea holds a B.A. in Bioethics from Washington and Jefferson College, and a Masters of
Public Health (MPH) from Emory University, and is currently a PhD student at the London
school of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in Epidemiology and Population Health.

In her current position as the Agile and Human Centered Design Practices Director at National Government Services, Rita’s primary goal is to solve mission-critical challenges for federal health customers. She has nearly two decades of project management (PM) experience and has been a part of the National Government Services team since 2018. Rita supports the technical project management and human-centered design teams that drive a customer-centered approach to federal health solutions. She and her team focus on solving major pain points while bolstering quality and improving customer experiences. Rita is truly passionate about identifying the key needs of citizens, setting actionable metrics and striving to meet them with empathy and understanding.

George Jackson is VP of events at GovExec – the largest and most-influential media company in the public sector marketplace. He joined the company in 2020 to enhance the scale of their events and audience experiences. In 2021, George launched GovExec TV (streaming video content) and received the company’s Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, part of their first-annual Icon Awards.

George graduated from The Ohio State University in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in English. In 2006, he earned his master’s in broadcast journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park.

George spent the first five years of his journalism career at WJHL-TV in Johnson City Tenn. – beginning as an overnight producer for the station’s 6 a.m. broadcast. He advanced to lead on-air reporter for WJHL’s 11 p.m. newscast.

As a reporter, George examined the earnings of two non-profit hospital systems, felony charges filed against a local sheriff, predatory paving companies, a health benefits backlog for local veterans, and a series of cold-case murder investigations. He received an honorable mention for Best TV Reporter in the 2011 Tennessee AP Broadcast awards and won a Best Investigative Reporting award from Media General in 2010.

George joined DC’s ABC affiliate WJLA-TV in 2012 to produce Capital Insider, which won him an Emmy award. One year later, he developed and recorded the pilot episode of Government Matters – a program about the business of government. It debuted as a weekly show on Sunday, August 4th of 2013. George led Government Matters through September of 2020, expanded its reach to a daily worldwide audience, and produced its first feature-length documentary The Dawn of Generation AI.

George is from Toledo, Ohio. He lives with his wife, twin daughters, and a pair of rescue dogs in Northern Virginia.