Dr. Neil C. Evans is the acting program executive director (PED) of VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office. Dr. Evans reports to VA’s deputy secretary and is responsible for coordinating agency efforts to implement a modernized Federal electronic health record (EHR) across its enterprise, including the functional, technical, and program management elements of the new EHR program.
Dr. Evans also serves as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and CIO, as well as the Chief Officer for the Office of Connected Care in the Veterans Health Administration, overseeing VA’s expansive telehealth program and Veteran-facing digital health capabilities including VA’s patient portal, mobile program, and other initiatives connecting Veterans with their VA health care teams.
In late 2021, Dr. Evans served as VA’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and CIO, leading VA’s Digital Transformation. The role included managing a budget of more than $4 billion and guiding a workforce of approximately 16,000 government and contract staff, enabling health care and benefits delivery to more than 9 million enrolled Veterans.
In addition, Dr. Evans served from 2019-2020 as Interim Director, and then as Senior Advisor at the Federal Electronic Health Record Modernization Program Office, leading efforts to implement a single, common federal electronic health record with the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Coast Guard.
Dr. Evans has over 20 years of experience in VA and remains an active primary care physician, managing a panel of patients in the Primary Care clinic at the Washington, D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He has served in both clinical and IT-related leadership roles at the Medical Center level and at VA Central Office.
Dr. Evans began his VA career after completing medical school at Johns Hopkins University and training in Internal Medicine through the Osler Medical Residency, also at Johns Hopkins. He is board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Clinical Informatics and holds a faculty appointment as a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Prior to his medical training, he received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware.
In October 2020, Dr. Evans was selected as a winner of the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal for Management Excellence. Dr. Evans and his wife, Rachel, have three children.
