Andrea Norris

Ms. Norris serves as the Director, Center for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer (CIO) at the National Institutes of Health. As the Director, Center for Information Technology, she is responsible for managing a broad range of NIH-wide information and information technology services, including a new state-of-the-market high-speed research network infrastructure, a high-performance scientific computing system ranked as one of the top supercomputers in the world by TOP500, cloud-based collaboration and communication platforms and tools, bioinformatics research programs, data center services, business solutions and applications, and 24 x7 operations of NIH’s distributed IT environment. As the NIH CIO, she provides oversight of NIH’s $1 billion IT portfolio that supports scientific research and discovery.

During her time at NIH, Ms. Norris has led numerous improvements to enable the organization’s mission, including:

• New policies, approaches, and technologies to address opportunities afforded by the exponential growth in biomedical data, including an innovative trans-NIH data commons for biomedical research and discovery and new technology platforms to support transformative, million-cohort precision medicine studies.
• A new state-of-the-market global networking infrastructure, which includes a 100-Gigabit network core and a new 100-Gigabit connection to the United States research and education network (Internet2), to seamlessly connect researchers around the world as they collect and analyze data and generate new frontiers and discoveries in biomedical research.
• An internationally ranked high-performance scientific computing core facility to enable innovations in scientific research in areas such as genomics, computational chemistry, and cryo-electron microscopy imaging.
• Technology capabilities to promote collaboration and enable staff to work productively from their office, home, or from anywhere in the world, including cloud-based email and office productivity tools.
• The expansion of NIH’s security program to assure NIH implements appropriate controls and processes to protect its information and IT assets while maintaining a culture of open collaboration and data sharing.
• Adoption of innovative business models and approaches to gain NIH efficiencies without sacrificing value and quality of service in commodity IT areas.
• New governance and oversight frameworks to ensure critical IT decision making is strategic, cohesive, and consistent with federal laws and policies.

Ms. Norris is also a key contributor to IT-related activities at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other federal levels. She serves on all major HHS IT governance groups and plays key leadership roles in special-focus departmental efforts. Most recently, she helped develop the White House-led framework for security planning for precision medicine initiatives in the governmental, private sector, and non-profit sectors.

Prior to her tenure at NIH, Ms. Norris spent more than 10 years at the National Science Foundation (NSF), where, in her roles as Acting CIO and Director of IT services, she was responsible for establishing the foundation’s strategy, policies, and programs and managing its information technology systems and services. One of her most notable roles before joining NSF, was the Deputy Chief Information Officer for Management for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where she provided senior leadership and management of NASA’s complex $2 billion information technology portfolio. Prior to joining the federal government, Ms. Norris was a management consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton and served on the President’s Private Sector Commission on Cost Control.

Ms. Norris was the 2008 recipient of the President’s Meritorious Service Award.

Ms. Norris has a Master of Business Administration degree with a major in Information Systems Management from the George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the College of William and Mary.

Honors and Awards

2018    Fed Health IT Top 100

2017    Fed Health IT Top 100

2016    NIH Special Act Award for contributions to the Department of Health and Human Services Federal Information Technology Reform Act Implementation Plan

2016    NIH Director’s Award for contributions to the NIH-wide Strategic Plan

2016    Department of Health and Human Services Award for supporting the Unified Financial Management System transition to a cloud-based platform

2015    NIH Director’s Award for contributions to the NIH Plan for Data Sharing

2013    NIH Director’s Award for contributions to the Advisory Committee of the Director Data and Informatics Working Group

2012    NIH Office of the Director Award for supporting the NIH Celebration of Science event.

Leadership Activities

January 2016 to May 2016—Co-Chaired the HHS Network Assessment Working Group to assess and make recommendations on Department-wide networking capabilities

October 2015 to March 2016—Served on the Office of Science and Technology Policy-sponsored working group to develop a national security framework for Precision Medicine Initiatives

2015—Served on the HHS working group to develop the Department’s plan for implementing new Federal Information Technology and Reform Act requirements

March 2015—Sponsored the first NIH IT Job Shadowing Day (High School Students)

February 2014 to May 2014—Chaired the NIH working group to assess the National Children’s Study technical architecture

Selected Speaking Engagements & Presentations

2017    Panelist, Fed Health IT 2017, Bethesda, MD, “2018: A Look Ahead”

2017    Panelist, Plenary Session of BIO-ITWorld Conference, Denver, CO

2017, Keynote, NIH Data Storage Summit

2016    BioIT International Conference, Keynote Panel Speaker: CIO Perspectives

2016    HIMSS Capital Region Conference, NIH Information Technology Initiatives

2014    HHSInternet Protocol Version 6 Symposium, Bethesda, MD  

2014    IBM Workshop on Federal Grants Management Best Practices, Washington, DC

2014    National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, Co-Sponsored with Dr. Phil Bourne an NIH information session on Electronic Lab Notebook Best Practices with NIH Lab Managers

2014    National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, Co-Sponsored the “NIH Workshop on Advanced Networking”

2014    National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, “NIH Information Security Workshop”

2013    BIO-IT World Conference, Boston, MA

2012    Council on Government Relations Conference, Washington, DC, “NIH’s Big Data Initiatives”

2012    12^th Annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference, Baltimore, MD

Current Committee Participation

Member, HHS Administrative and Management IT Domain Committee

Member, HHS Science and Research IT Domain Committee

Member, HHS CIO Council

Chair, NIH Administrative Data Council

Chair, NIH IT Budget Advisory Council

Chair, NIH IT Management Council

Member, NIH Scientific Data Council

Member, NIH High Performance Computing Working Group

Member, NIH Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board

Co-Chair, Search Committee for NIH Deputy Director for Management

Member, Numerous Search Committees, including the Director of the National Library of Medicine and the Department of Health and Services CIO