WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — America’s first-ever Chief Data Scientist, Dhanurjay ‘DJ’ Patil, was awarded the Highest Civilian Award by the Department of Defense.
After Salesforce bought his company RelateIQ in 2014, Patil was invited to work at the White House, serving in the aforementioned capacity.
During his White House tenure, Patil pushed policies to make data more broadly accessible and usable, both within the government and by private citizens. Specific projects he was focused on included the Precision Medicine Initiative, working with the NIH to advance personalized medicine, and the Police Data Initiative, which aims to improve policing and rebuild trust in local communities.
Patil, in an interview with Recode, said he hoped other Silicon Valley techies would follow in his footsteps after President Obama leaves office, regardless of who moves in.
“The agencies and career staff have wanted to do this for a long time,” he said. “They’ve been saying, ‘Where have you guys been? Why haven’t you unleashed us, to let us do this?’ Now that they have the runway and the mandate, they’re going to maximize that opportunity.”
“If we just say, ‘we tried’ and disengage, we lose,” Patil added. “This only works if we have a model where we are continuing to serve, not by providing advice only, but by literally taking a pause from here [Silicon Valley], stepping into the world and taking a tour of duty.”
Devika, his wife, painted a picture of the ceremony for Patil in a Facebook post:
“Secretary [Ash] Carter gave a heartwarming speech about all of DJ’s accomplishments and needless to say, we couldn’t be prouder of all the work DJ has done to serve the country. As DJ said when the President appointed him, that was the easy part. The tough part will be making an impact. Well, you made the impact, you served your country to the best of your ability and for that, we are all so proud.”
