HHS shakeup, Weight Watchers' new CPO, and more digital health hires and departures

By Dave Muoio
03:24 pm
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Deven McGraw, former deputy director for health information privacy at HHS’ Office for Civil Rights, has left public service for an unnamed Silicon Valley health technology startup, Politico reports. Iliana Peters, a senior adviser for compliance and enforcement in the Office, will at least temporarily step into the vacant position.

While McGraw’s only hint as to her new destination was that the startup’s primary focus is consumer empowerment, she did tell Politico that she will be “part of a very small team doing the thinking about what the product will look like, the data we’re collecting, and how we’ll manage and secure it.”

Michael Korcuska, former vice president of product management at LinkedIn and executive-in-residence at Greylock Parners, has joined Weight Watchers as chief product officer. According to the company, Korcuska will be leading efforts to better integrate Weight Watchers’ digital and physical efforts into a single, more cohesive product.

“Weight Watchers has helped millions of people develop healthy habits that are livable and sustainable, and has made great progress in creating a digital experience,” Korcuska said in a statement. “Yet there is still incredible opportunity ahead, especially by increasing personalization and improving the integration between the online and offline experiences. Weight Watchers has a track record of helping millions of people, which means there is great data to work with, so I'm very excited about the possibilities."

Senior care and remote monitoring-focused Reemo Health have announced two new executive hires: Jose Basa as chief product officer, and Peter Obringer as chief technology officer. Previously, both Basa and Obringer held positions at analytics company Teradata, while Obringer also boasts time at Cisco Systems as director of global business services and business intelligence.

“We’re thrilled to welcome two outstanding leaders to our executive team. Both Peter and Jose possess the strategic expertise and technical know-how to grow Reemo in totally new ways,” John Valiton, who was named CEO at Reemo earlier this year, said in a statement. “As we rapidly move down an exciting growth path, we’ll be even better equipped to deliver transformative solutions to seniors and caregivers with Peter and Jose’s leadership and expertise.”

Blink Health, makers of a digital prescription drug price comparison platform, has announced Robert Birge as chief marketing officer. Birge has previously served as chief marketing officer at Kayak, and has held other positions at The Boston Consulting Group, IMG, and TBWA/Chiat/Day. Most recently, Birge acted as an advisor for consumer start-up companies on business strategy.

“We’ve had tremendous early success by making prescription drugs affordable for everyone. It’s time to expand our offering and invest in bringing Blink to more people. Robert brings an incredible track record of building famous brands and accelerating growth,” Geoffrey Chaiken, cofounder and CEO of Blink Health, said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to welcome him as we continue to build a world-class management team.”

Scotland-based eClinicalHealth, developers of a cloud-based patient engagement platform for clinical trials, have named Mark Paul as the company’s new head of US operations. His resume includes more than 25 years in clinical development, including positions as director of eClinical technologies and CEO for StatWorks, cofounder and CEO of PharPoint Research, and SVP and president of CROS NT LLC. According to a statement, Paul will provide “key leadership” for efforts to build a customer base in the US.

“I’m extremely pleased to be joining the innovative team at eClinicalHealth,” Paul said in a statement. “This forward-looking group is bringing patient centricity to clinical trials with the Clinpal platform, connecting patients, sites, and sponsors in a unified way.” 

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