Eric Perakslis, the former chief information officer and chief scientist (informatics) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has been named the executive director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics (CBMI) and the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
According to Isaac Kohane, Lawrence J. Henderson Professor of Pediatrics, and Alexa McCray, HMS associate professor of medicine, both directors of CBMI and the Countway Library, the growth of CBMI led them to identify the need for a creative and accomplished individual to lead the broad range of administrative and technological needs of both the center and the library.
Perakslis will start his new role on Sept. 3.
“We are delighted that someone with Eric’s experience, passion and vision will be joining us at this critical time in our evolution,” said McCray.
While at the FDA, Perakslis modernized the scientific and analytics computing infrastructure and was responsible for the publication of the first strategic plan for information technology. In addition, he served as the co-chair of the Scientific Architecture Domain Steering Committee across the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to the FDA, he spent 13 years at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development where he was most recently the senior vice president and CIO of R&D Information Technology and the head of informatics for the Corporate Office of Science and Technology.
A kidney cancer survivor and an avid patient advocate, Perakslis has served as the chairman of the Survivor Advisory Board at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, and as a member of the board of directors of the Kidney Cancer Association.
Perakslis serves on the editorial board of Cancer Today magazine and the DIA flagship publication, the Journal of Regulatory Science and Innovation. Additionally, he is chair of the technology advisory committee for the American Society of Clinical Oncology CancerLinQ project, which aims to deliver the first learning healthcare system in oncology.
Perakslis holds a doctorate in chemical and biochemical engineering from Drexel University. His current research interests are translational medicine and informatics with a focus on precompetitive data sharing, oncology informatics and open source systems globalization.
CBMI conducts and supports translational research informed by computational strategies. Since its founding in 2005, CBMI faculty and staff have conducted a broad range of funded research projects across the spectrum of clinical and genomics research, as well as developed innovative educational programs for individuals at various stages of their careers.
