Drexel DeFord

On July 15, Next Wave Health, an investment advisory firm involved with healthcare information technology, announced on its website that Drexel (Drex) DeFord, a very well-known leader among healthcare CIOs, had joined the company as principal advisor, where “he will help forward-thinking entrepreneurs turn promising ideas into successful businesses,” according to the website.

“Next Wave Health is focused on start-up and early-stage companies that need access to the depth of experience that only comes from people who have done it before,” the website quoted Ivo Nelson, Next Wave Health’s founder, as saying. “Drex has been instrumental to the successes of the many healthcare organizations he has been involved with, and we feel fortunate to have him. He truly is  aleader among his peers.”

DeFord comes to Steward Health Care, the Boston-based integrated health system that has been one of the original Medicare Pioneer accountable care organizations. Prior to his tenure at Steward, DeFord held CIO positions at Seattle Children’s Hospital/Research Institute and Scripps Health.

DeFord was chair of the board of the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) during 2012, and in May 2012, was a keynote speaker at the Healthcare Informatics Executive Summit, held that year in Orlando, Fla.