Helga E. Rippen is the Director of RAND’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, a federally funded research and development center that supports the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).  She has lead the work of the Summit group on a national information technology infrastructure for bioterrorism.  Dr. Rippen has done work in the areas including health informatics, public and international health, environmental health, online quality and online ethics, and low Reynold’s number fluid mechanics.   

Previously, Dr. Rippen was the Director of Medical Informatics at Pfizer Health Solutions where she led the development of a population disease management software system. From 1996 to 1999, she was the founder and director of the Health Information Technology Institute at Mitretek Systems in McLean, Virginia. Here she led efforts to develop prototype applications in disease prevention and patient support, evaluate electronic medical records, and address quality metrics for online health information.  Earlier in the 1990s, she worked as an American Association for the Advancement of Science diplomacy fellow with USAID where she was responsible for water supply and sanitation systems and tropical diseases.  She traveled extensively to developing countries working with local, regional, country and NGO organizations. 

During her residency at Johns Hopkins University, she served in a variety of positions including as an analyst with the Office of Technology Assessment, as a physician and analyst with OSHA, and as a fellow in the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the Department of Health and Human Services.  She did postdoctoral work as a Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Germany investigating the effects of shear on fibrinogen polymerization and as a NATO Fellow at the University of British Columbia studying sickle cell adhesion.  She has served on numerous non-profit boards and chaired many of them.  Currently, she is on the National Preparedness and Response Task Force of HIMSS, the IEEE-USA Medical Technology Policy Committee, and the Policy Committee of the eHealth Initiative. 

Dr. Rippen received a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Duke University, an M.D. from the University of Florida with honors, an MPH in health policy and management from Johns Hopkins University, and her B.S. in mechanical engineering from Florida Atlantic University.  She completed her medical internship at Georgetown University and her residency in preventive medicine at Johns Hopkins University.  Rippen is Board Certified in Public Health and General Preventive Medicine.  

Contact information:

Helga E. Rippen, rippen@rand.org, 703 413 1100 ext 5574

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