Auckland, New Zealand – Orion Health has announced the appointment of Dr. John Halamka (pictured) as an independent director of the company. Orion Health Chair Andrew Ferrier: “We are thrilled to have someone of John’s calibre join the Orion Health board. John is one of the pre-eminent thinkers in healthcare information technology, having been a key advisor for 10 years to two U.S. presidents, in addition to advising China, Japan, Canada, England and Sweden.”

Ferrier added that, “John is uniquely placed to provide insights to Orion Health from our largest market as well as other current and potential markets.”

Dr. Halamka is the International Healthcare Innovation professor at Harvard Medical School, where he has served in both Republican and Democrat presidential administrations, and advised national governments throughout the world on healthcare technology. He is also the chief information officer (CIO) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and chairman of the New England Healthcare Exchange Network (NEHEN), as well as a practicing emergency physician.

In his role at BIDMC, Dr. Halamka is responsible for all clinical, financial, administrative, and academic information technology, serving 3,000 doctors, 12,000 employees, and 1 million patients.

As chairman of NEHEN, Dr. Halamka oversees clinical and administrative data exchange among the insurers, healthcare providers, and patients in Massachusetts. He has authored five books on technology related issues, hundreds of articles and thousands of posts on the popular Geekdoctor blog.

“Dr. Halamka understands the unique opportunity that Orion Health has to enable the transformation of the global health sector through its open technology platform,” said Ferrier. “His considerable experience working for the most prestigious institutions in academia, medicine and U.S. public life will mean Dr. Halamka can provide valuable advice and guidance to the company as it extends its customer base in the U.S. and around the world.”