Senior Advisor for Data Modernization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Niall Brennan is the Senior Advisor for Data Strategy to the CDC Director. In this role, he provides guidance to the CDC Director on the multi-billion dollar CDC Data Modernization Initiative (DMI), as well as working directly with CDC Centers and Offices to accelerate implementation of the DMI.

Prior to coming to CDC, Brennan was Chief Analytics and Privacy Officer at Clarify Health, where he led Clarify’s analytics and informatics strategy. He joined Clarify following his role as president and CEO of the Health Care Cost Institute, from 2017–2022, and previously served as the Chief Data Officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, from 2010–2017, where he led the Obama administration’s healthcare transparency efforts, built an advanced analytics enterprise, and played a key role in implementing numerous Affordable Care Act provisions, including the Qualified Entity Program and the Physician Payments Sunshine Act.

Brennan is a graduate of Georgetown University’s MPP program and has an undergraduate degree from University College Dublin. He is married to Myra and has two children, Niamh (22) and Eoghan (17), who he inflicted difficult-to-pronounce Irish names upon. He is proud to be a native of Ireland, an immigrant, and a naturalized US Citizen.