10 Things To Know About Karen DeSalvo

In announcing the appointment of Karen DeSalvo, MD, as the new national coordinator for health information technology, Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius focused on DeSalvo's experience as health commissioner of New Orleans.

Here are 10 aspects of Karen DeSalvo’s background that may help define how she'll carry on the crucial work of her predecessors.

“Some of you know her through her work with the Crescent City Beacon Community, one of our national leaders in applying health IT to creatively solve challenging problems in care delivery,” Sebelius wrote in a letter to staff at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.

We'll soon learn more about DeSalvo's approach to the challenges facing providers and patients in the current healthcare environment. Until then, here are 10 aspects of her background that may help define how she'll carry on the crucial work of her predecessors, now 10 years in the making.