DJ Patil
U.S. Chief Data Scientist with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Discussion
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DJ Patil
@dj44 · White House Chief Data Scientist
Hi - I'm DJ Patil, the United States' first Chief Data Scientist. I'm developing policies and practices to help the U.S. maintain its leadership in tech and innovation, fostering partnerships to maximize the Nation’s return on its investment in data, and helping attract and retain the best minds in data science to serve the public. I'm so happy to be here-- ask me anything!
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COSTAS ANDRIOPOULOS
@candriopoulos · https://medium.com/strictly-curious
Hello DJ, thanks for taking our questions. 1. Where do you look for emerging trends (e.g. sources, events, websites, etc.) and 2. What kind of tools do you currently use?
@candriopoulos My favorite site to look for data is data.gov. You'll find almost 200,000 data sets! Everything from weather data to health care data. It's a phenominal resource.
For trends, my favorite thing is to go to meetups. There are great ones on tech, data, etc. This weekend, it was awesome to hang out with Charlotte, Miami, and St. Louis and see how cities are using data in novel ways. To learn more about it, check out: https://cache.codeforamerica.org...
The other thing that I'm luck to have is time with the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The are not only amazing in their specialties, but also that they are a great sounding board. The best thig there is to check out their reports. https://www.whitehouse.gov/admin...
neeharika sinha
@neeeharika · Google, Threadchannel
Hello DJ, so great to meet you here. 1) What were the challenges of being the first Chief data scientist on a national level? 2)How would you say your work is drastically different from private sector ( data related work) ? 3) What are the must know skills to be a proficient data scientist? Thanks a lot.
@neeeharika Well first, I had to learn to tie a tie. There are many more knots now days…
The biggest challenge is how you prioritize your time. There are so many incredible things to work on! (Did you know that we’ll have the 1st White House Organ Summit on Monday? https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/...)
The best part is how focused the President is on making sure we deliver on our commitments. It’s very much like a startup. You have to work in ambiguity, create clarity, and always be shipping!
Most of all the big shift is you really have to think about the edge cases. Every edge case is a person. That person has a name, a family, and a story. We can never forget that. I’ve got some of those people’s pictures and letters around my desk as a reminder that we have to think deeply about everything we do.
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
What has most surprised you about being the United States' first Chief Data Scientist?
@ems_hodge The most awesome thing is how amazing America really is. If you want to get a sense of power of our remarkable country, hang out at a science fair. We just had one here at the White House and I was amazed at the work all these “kids” are doing. They’re literally figuring out how to deal with everything from preventing renal failure to launching two young girls who figured out how to launch a toy into space. https://www.whitehouse.gov/scien...
When we bring the full force of the United States of America to solve a problem, we can do wonders! That’s why the President has us so focused on the Precision Medicine Initiative and the Cancer Moonshot.
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
What advice would you give to someone looking to work for the government?
@ems_hodge It's awesome. The most important thing to do is understand why people made the decisions that they did. 2nd, you have to always focus on the big picutre and the unintended consequences of your actions/choices.
Finally, always remember who you're fighting for. Get away from your desk and talk to the people you really work for-- the public.
Mukul Bagga
@indianmarketeer · Founder and CEO, DigiBridge Healthcare
In the cancer moon shot - which single technology/initiative would you bet your money on?
@indianmarketeer Data!
Check out the President's approach to his Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) https://youtu.be/5dpwG8HpPgI
PMI is the launching pad for many of the health initiatives that we’ll want to go after. The first being cancer! Associated with this are going to be the need for privacy and security.
Check out what we’ve done on that here https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites...
And https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/...
The biggest bet at the end of the day is now having particpatnts as true partners in research. Empowering them with their own data is key.
(((K. Dickson)))
@kldneuro · Grad student
@indianmarketeer Not just data but experiments properly designed to get good data. Great data gets thrown out all the time because the experiment and analysis wasn't just right.
Alden Marshall
@aldenmarshall · Lover of politics and beta testing
Is it better to be data driven or data informed?
@aldenmarshall There's only one thing that bad and that what we call being data-stupid. That’s when you take the human out of the loop.
Data driven organization: A data-driven organization acquires, processes, and leverages data in a timely fashion to create efficiencies, iterate on and develop new products, and navigate the competitive landscape.
Data driven government: Data-driven government responsibly gathers, processes, leverages, and releases data in a timely fashion to enable transparency, create efficiencies, provides security, foster innovation
In both of these models data is used to make better decisions. There is always a time when you may need to ignore the data. But when that happens, you have to have the ability to monitor and meaure to allow you to iterate FAST!
Jay Chen
@chenjay12 · CEO, myHealthyBee.com
DJ, I run a startup focus on healthy pregnancy and healthy mommy. I have 2 questions: a.) What are the resources we can tap into from the federal government. E.g. access to population health data related the pregnancy, babycare, etc. b.) Once President Obama leaves office, how will the next administration impact the programs at your office. Will it continue?
@chenjay12
Check out the awesome datasets from CMS; https://www.cms.gov/OpenPayments...
We’re focused on how these efforts will continue. To get a sense of this, check out the great work by GSA and 18F: http://www.gsa.gov/portal/conten...
There are also what are called Executive Orders (EO).
For example, the President’s EOs on:
All data must be open and machine readable by default https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-p...-
Creating the Presidential Innovation Fellows https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-p...
The National Strategic Computing Initiative: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-p...
(((K. Dickson)))
@kldneuro · Grad student
Tuan Dang
@tuanldang
Hi DJ, I am a fan. Thanks for taking questions. How can we use data science / technology to help with cancer treatment? How can we attract tech talents / startups to go in the healthcare field to disrupt and innovate?
@tuanldang Thanks! The biggest thing we have to do is break down the data silos! To much of the data is locked up. Locked up from the patient, locked up from the researcher, locked up from the care team. We unlock the data and we'll find insights that will accelerate tailored treatments at an incredible pace. This is why the President launched the Precision Medicine Inititative and then the Cancer Moonshot.
Sheriff
@sheriffrgf · Consultant @ RGF (Recruit Holdings)
Hello DJ, Greeting from India ! Quick question. Wouldn't you think countries like India who have leapfrogged through higher growth rates propelled by technology also need to to have chief data officers like US has which i believe is at a very later stage ?