DJ Patil, who is exclusively represented by Chartwell, has been named by the White House its first Chief Data Scientist and Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Data Policy. Recruited personally by President Obama, DJ will work in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, reporting to US Chief Technology Officer and former Google executive Megan Smith.

DJ – who has worked inside several big-name Silicon Valley operations, including LinkedIn, eBay, PayPal, Skype, and venture capital firm Greylock Partners – will now act as an evangelist for new applications of big data across all areas of government, with a particular focus on healthcare. He joins the Beltway after four years as Vice President of Product at RelateIQ, a data-mining start-up that was acquired by Salesforce last year.

There is arguably no-one better suited to help the US better embrace the relatively new discipline of data science than DJ; he is often credited with coining the term. Over the course of two decades of work in the private and public sectors and in academia, he has pioneered new ways for institutions to benefit from data.

A press release from the White House’s office of Science and Technology Policy said, “DJ will help shape policies and practices to help the US remain a leader in technology and innovation, foster partnerships to help responsibly maximize the Nation’s return on its investment in data, and help to recruit and retain the best minds in data science to join us in serving the public.”

Megan Smith wrote a blog post for the White House to welcome DJ to the team. Read it here.