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Michael Huerta, PhD, Named Acting Deputy Director for Operations and Innovation at NLM

October 19, 2022

Michael Huerta

Michael Huerta, PhD, has been named Acting Deputy Director for Operations and Innovation at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this new role, Dr. Huerta will develop frameworks and models for innovation and new growth opportunities and work alongside Jerry Sheehan, NLM’s Deputy Director for Policy and External Affairs. Dr. Huerta will also provide administrative oversight for the overall NLM research portfolio, serve as NLM’s Chief Diversity Officer, and provide senior executive support to NLM’s Division and Office Directors. Dr. Huerta will work in a co-equal capacity with Jerry Sheehan, NLM’s Deputy Director for Policy and External Affairs, to advance the NLM mission and help to realize its vision.

“Dr. Huerta has a history of providing strategic leadership to key programs and initiatives at NLM,” said NLM Director Patricia Flatley Brennan, RN, PhD. “With an eye to the future, Dr. Huerta will enhance and strengthen innovation at all levels across our institution.”

Dr. Huerta has spent more than 30 years at NIH and has made major contributions to the development and implementation of open science, as well as large-scale, open, digital biomedical research and technology initiatives. Most recently, he directed NLM’s Office of Strategic Initiatives (OSI) and served as Associate Director of NLM for Strategy to identify, implement, and assess strategic directions of NLM. Throughout his tenure at NIH, Dr. Huerta has led many NIH research initiatives including the NIH Human Connectome Project, the National Database for Autism Research, and the U.S. Human Brain Project, which was key in creating and establishing the field of neuroinformatics. He chairs several committees across NIH and NLM to help realize the promise of data science and open science for biomedicine.

 
Lisa Federer

As Dr. Huerta steps into this new role, Lisa Federer, PhD, MLIS, has been selected and will shortly assume the role of Acting Director of OSI and will serve as the principal advisor for matters and programs concerning strategic directions of NLM. Most recently, Dr. Federer has served as the NLM Data Science and Open Science Librarian, with a focus on developing efforts to support workforce development and enhance capacity in the biomedical research and library communities for data science and open science.