HL7 Announces New Positions Set to Further Interoperability Work

Health Level Seven International (HL7) has created three new executive positions that are set to support the organization’s interoperability and data standards goals.

HL7 went through an 18 month-long re-envisioning project to assess how to better serve the HL7 community and the health IT industry. Ultimately, the organization decided to restructure into two divisions: standards development and standards implementation.

HL7 officials said the divisions will seamlessly collaborate to address the needs of the industry and increase the impact of HL7 data standards.

The standards development division will focus on the development and maintenance of HL7 specifications, while the standards implementation division will concentrate on helping communities discover, access, and understand the data standards.

“We are excited to have such accomplished and globally recognized individuals join the HL7 executive leadership team,” Charles Jaffe, MD, PhD, CEO of HL7 International, said in a public statement. “Each of them brings their unique skills and experience with HL7. We expect that the impact of their leadership will be felt in the near term and in the years to come.”

Daniel Vreeman, DPT, will lead the standards development division as chief standards development officer. Vreeman has developed internationally adopted health IT data standards and provided advice to interoperability initiatives of numerous federal agencies and national health IT efforts in other countries.

Most recently, Vreeman was the senior clinical data standards lead at RTI since 2019. He was also the director of LOINC and health data standards at Regenstrief Institute from 2006 to 2019.

Vreeman has been an active HL7 member since 2006 and is a founding member of the HL7 FHIR Foundation. He also serves as the technical director for the HL7 Gravity Accelerator and the chair for the Health Standards Collaborative.

“I am passionate about creating a world where open data standards enable people to experience optimal health” said Vreeman. "I am truly delighted to join HL7 and its community in developing standards that empower global health data interoperability.”

Viet Nguyen, MD, will head the standards implementation division as chief standards implementation officer alongside Diego Kaminker who will fill the role of deputy chief standards implementation officer.

Nguyen is an internist, pediatrician, and clinical informaticist who has held leadership roles such as chief medical officer and chief medical information officer at Leidos Corporation, Lockheed-Martin, and Systems Made Simple.

Most recently, Nguyen founded Stratametrics, LLC, an informatics consulting firm that works with commercial and federal clients.

Nguyen has been active in HL7 for approximately 20 years. He has served as the technical director for the HL7 Da Vinci FHIR Accelerator. In addition, Nguyen is a nationally recognized FHIR educator and an HL7 Board Member.

“I am honored that HL7's board of directors has put its trust in this leadership team to be the stewards of this important phase of HL7's digital transformation,” said Nguyen. “I look forward to helping the division further HL7's mission to improve healthcare around the world by supporting the implementer community with education, best practices and tools to advance the adoption of HL7 standards.”

HL7 selected Kaminker as the deputy chief standards implementation officer. He is the founder and owner of Kern IT with specialties in integration, software development, and project management.

Kaminker has been a member of the HL7 community for twenty years and has served multiple terms as the chair of HL7 Argentina as well as an affiliate director of the HL7 International board of directors. Throughout his career, Kaminker has defined, implemented, and maintained hundreds of HL7 interoperability projects.

As an HL7 educator, Kaminker has led hundreds of training courses and created the self-paced online HL7 Fundamentals Course, which has attracted over 6,000 students across the world.

“I am thankful to the HL7 board for this opportunity and to work closely with Dr. Nguyen to launch new programs and contribute to the widespread adoption of HL7 standards worldwide,” Kaminker said.