In the last two weeks, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has filled key artificial intelligence (AI) positions at HHS and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These appointments, as well as recent statements from HHS and FDA leadership, align with the Trump administration’s intention to use AI to improve regulatory efficiency at HHS and beyond.
Last week, FDA hired Jeremy Walsh, an information technology (IT) professional with experience contracting for federal health agencies, as FDA’s first chief AI officer and head of IT. HHS also recently designated Peter Bowman-Davis as acting chief AI officer at HHS.
Although not formally announced by FDA or HHS, these positions will support the internal use of AI by HHS and FDA, in line with the administration’s broader AI priorities. These appointments follow the Trump administration’s January 2025 executive order titled Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence and the resulting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum on Accelerating Federal Use of AI through Innovation, Governance, and Public Trust issued on April 3, 2025 (previously discussed by Akin here). The OMB memorandum requires all federal agencies to identify a chief AI officer by June 2, 2025, to promote AI innovation, adoption, governance and reduce “bureaucratic bottlenecks.”
Statements from HHS and FDA officials underscore the agencies’ focus on promoting internal efficiency using AI. FDA has previously reported on its efforts to use AI to support various regulatory functions, such as assessing data integrity issues in marketing applications, assessing bioequivalence, identifying potential drug interactions, and a host of other uses. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary announced at the American Hospital Association Membership Meeting on May 6, that FDA completed its first AI-assisted scientific review this week, with a goal to implement AI-assisted review agency-wide by this summer. At the same conference, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Chief of Staff and Deputy Administrator Stephanie Carlton noted HHS’s likely use of generative AI to analyze and draft regulations.