The Centers for Disease Control has spearheaded a program available to other agencies that automatically updates website content, making it easier and more cost-effective to keep information current.
The content syndication tool eliminates the cumbersome and time-consuming practice of emailing updates and changing website content manually. Keep reading →
Federal professionals have uncovered crucial terabytes of data that are now serving as the latest tool for entrepreneurs to create innovative mobile apps aimed at improving safety amid America’s streets, highways, railroads and consumer products.
Safety professionals across government “all want to set our data free,” said Jo Strang, the community leader for safety.data.gov, and the chief safety officer for the Federal Railroad Administration. Keep reading →
Computer monitoring software maker SpectorSoft is gaining sudden attention among federal workers after a Washington Post article identified the Vero Bearch, Fla. company for its role in aiding Food and Drug Administration officials to intercept screen shots, emails, key strokes, and other communications from scientists working at the FDA.
Concerned about unauthorized disclosures in the wake of the WikiLeaks scandal, FDA officials reportedly installed the monitoring software on the laptop computers of an undisclosed number of FDA scientists. Keep reading →
This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Science and Environment medal Kyle Myers, director of research in imaging and applied mathematics at the Food and Drug Administration in Silver Spring, Md.
Medical devices such as magnetic resonance imaging technology, ultrasound machines and CT scans are used to create images of the human body for medical procedures and to diagnose a wide range of ailments from cancer and heart problems to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
The reliability of the information gleaned from these devices depends on a number of factors-the quality of the images, the diagnostic methods used to assess those images and the skill of the radiologists who interpret the information. Keep reading →
Government agencies are flooded with a tidal wave of data. But a number of healthcare agencies are facing particularly challenging obstacles to achieving their missions in a digital and data interoperable world. This is particularly true for regulatory healthcare agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
As outlined in the agency’s “FDA Science and Mission at Risk” report dating back to 2007, the FDA anticipated many of these challenges. The report detailed new data sources coming from new digital sciences including the use of molecular data for medicine (e.g., genomics, proteomics, and pan-omics), wireless healthcare, nanotechnology, medical imaging, telemedicine platforms, electronic health records and more. Keep reading →
A new online service has put a spotlight on the 1000 most highly paid federal civil servants, renewing the debate on whether government employees are overcompensated.
The list of highest paid civil servants, issued by an Internet start-up firm, WikiOrgCharts, provides a new perspective on the extent to which doctors, lawyers and banking professionals hold top paying government jobs and the sizable incomes that the federal government pays to attract senior management talent. Keep reading →
President Barack Obama took new action today on a growing crisis for patients unable to get certain prescription drugs, by directing the Food and Drug Administration Monday to take steps to reduce drug shortages across the USA, especially for those needing life-saving cancer drugs.
Obama signed an executive order intended to ease a problem that has been mushrooming in recent months, forcing delays in surgeries and cancer treatments. Keep reading →