Member Briefing to Feature Tech Leaders in Public Health Department

The California Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) chief information officer, chief technology officer and chief technology innovation officer will give an insiders’ perspective next month in an Industry Insider — California Member Briefing.

CIO John Roussel, CTO Tony Tran and Chief Technology Innovation Officer (CTIO) Vivek Kaushal will discuss CDPH’s IT organization, key priorities, current projects and future plans in the briefing, which begins at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 14 with registration. Their presentation is scheduled to conclude at 4:15 p.m., followed by a member mixer. The event will be at the Hilton Sacramento Arden West, and registration and other details are available online.

CDPH, which is part of the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS), works to safeguard public health and helps shape positive health outcomes for individuals, families and communities. The department has 3,900 employees working in 17 district offices throughout the state, and it has an annual budget of $4.4 billion and an estimated IT budget of $160 million.

Roussel, who was named CIO and a deputy director of CDPH in June 2022, has a broad background in state government, having previously worked in architecture, network architecture and other roles with the state Franchise Tax Board and CHHS. He moved up to the role of chief enterprise architect with CHHS and branch chief with the Department of Health Care Services, then assistant deputy director for the IT Services Division of the California State Lottery. From that role, he was named CDPH CTO and assistant deputy director in 2021, followed by his 2022 appointment as CIO and deputy director.

Tran has been with CDPH for 12 years, having previously served as chief enterprise architect and CTO. He was a leader in securing enterprise data during the COVID-19 pandemic and has set the department’s future state strategies for data security, integrity, and delivery for interoperability and cloud-based data platforms as part of CDPH’s Future of Public Health initiative.

Kaushal, the department’s first CTIO, transformed CDPH’s public health IT enterprise through policy creation and oversight of the enterprise architecture, enterprise project management and enterprise platform services functions. Before taking his current role in December, Kaushal was the project approval and oversight manager. He also has previously worked in the private sector in the Bay Area for more than 20 years.