Kathryn Marchesini, J.D.

Kathryn Marchesini serves as the chief privacy officer (CPO) at ONC where she advises the national coordinator on matters related to health information privacy, security, and data stewardship, especially as these issues impact IT development and implementation. Ms. Marchesini works closely with other HHS divisions and federal agencies to assure a coordinated, nationwide approach to maintaining the privacy and security of electronic health information.

Prior to serving as CPO, Ms. Marchesini served as a senior advisor at ONC where she advised stakeholders about the privacy and security implications surrounding electronic health information, technology, and healthcare. She worked with OCR, National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other federal agencies, to provide strategic direction and substantive expertise at the intersection of privacy and cybersecurity law, technology, and health research. In her seven years at HHS, Ms. Marchesini also served as deputy director for privacy, where she led ONC’s privacy team and helped with federal, state, and international policy guidance and education initiatives addressing emerging health IT privacy, data protection, and security-related issues. In 2014, she served as acting CPO.  

Before joining HHS, Ms. Marchesini was a strategy and technology consultant at two international management consulting firms. She led IT modernization and business transformation efforts to help organizations bridge the gap between business requirements, technology, and law. Ms. Marchesini also worked in state government and at a multinational clinical research organization.  

Ms. Marchesini earned her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law, where she was executive editor of the North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology (JOLT). She earned a professional certificate in strategic decision and risk management in healthcare from Stanford University and B.S. in international economics and finance with a management information systems minor from Catholic University. Ms. Marchesini also maintains a Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certificate.