New York appoints head of city data office

Zohran Mamdani, Mayor of New York City, has appointed Bharti Sharma (pictured) as Executive Director of the Center for Innovation through Data Intelligence (CIDI).

Founded in 2011, CIDI conducts interagency research to identify gaps in city services and improve outcomes for residents. The centre works across Health and Human Service agencies and other city partners to use data, research and collaboration to inform policy and strengthen service delivery.

Sharma joins CIDI from NYC Health + Hospitals, where she served as senior director of data and AI strategic enablement and operations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she designed and led the systemwide COVID-19 Intelligence Hub, providing executive leadership with real-time data on ICU capacity, emergency department throughput, bed availability, surge planning, ventilator supply and other critical operational metrics. She also led the development of the city’s testing and vaccination wait-time dashboards.

“Bharti Sharma has dedicated her career to using data as a tool to improve people’s lives,” said Mamdani. “Whether leading our city’s public health response during the global COVID-19 pandemic or building systems to make government more effective, she has shown how responsible, creative use of data can help solve our city’s most pressing issues. Her leadership will help city government deliver better services and real results that New Yorkers deserve.”

Following the pandemic, Sharma founded and scaled the Data Champion Program to more than 300 embedded champions across every hospital, central office and ambulatory site in the system. She also led the Data Academy, which has trained more than 500 staff members. Together, the programmes generated an estimated US$4.75 million to US$5.5 million in annual cost avoidance while establishing NYC Health + Hospitals’ enterprise data governance framework.

“It is an honour to serve the people of New York City in this role,” said Sharma. “CIDI sits at an extraordinary intersection where government, data, and human impact converge and that is precisely where I want to be. I’ve spent my career inside public health systems, seeing firsthand how the right data or the absence of it shapes outcomes for real people. I come ready to listen, to build, and to ensure that the work we do here delivers for every New Yorker.”

Main image: LinkedIn/Sharma