Dr. Wyatt Smith
- Health IT visionary; founded AbleVets in 2012
- 20 years’ leadership experience in military, federal and health IT organizations
- Served as Deputy CIO for the Military Health System
Wyatt Smith, M.D., is Chief Executive Officer at AbleVets, a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned small business, which he founded in 2012. As CEO, Dr. Smith brings over 30 years of military, technical and corporate leadership experience and proven success in driving large-scale IT transformations across government-provisioned healthcare and services.
A board-certified physician and U.S. Navy Veteran, Dr. Smith applies a practical working knowledge to leading corporate direction and strategy at AbleVets. He is a hands-on leader, managing overall accounting, finance, and strategy, which has positioned AbleVets as an important technology partner on high-priority missions. He is also a strong advocate for Veteran employment, for which AbleVets was recently recognized with Department of Labor’s HIRE VETS Medallion Program Demonstration Award.
Prior to founding AbleVets, Dr. Smith was Vice President of Healthcare for Agilex, a mission and technology company, where he led the successful deployment and integration of major mobile health solutions for Departments of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Defense (DoD). He was integral to implementing VA’s Mobile Application Environment (MAE), a development environment with VA networks, its National Mobile Device Management (MDM) system and mobile applications that transformed the continuum of care for Veterans by improving appointment scheduling and advancing seamless access to patient information. He also led the implementation of applications for the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED); strategic healthcare planning for the Department of State; consultative support for the Office of the National Coordinator for Meaningful Use and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act; and implementation support for the DoD’s Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record (VLER).
Previously, Dr. Smith held technical leadership roles at DoD and the Navy. As Deputy CIO for the Military Health System (MHS), he led the successful certification of DoD’s AHLTA and developed partnerships and program to increase interoperability, including the DoD-State of Florida Health Information Network partnership and DoD-Department of State Electronic Health Record Sharing agreement. Prior to that role, he was the Executive and Commanding Officer for the Navy’s Medical IT Command where he managed the worldwide deployment of AHLTA, the DoD’s global longitudinal electronic health record, and drove programs to advance the privacy and security of the Navy’s healthcare systems. Dr. Smith also served on the 2001 Presidential Task Force to Improve Veterans Health Care where he helped establish initiatives to improve access to Veterans benefits and to strengthen VA-DoD partnerships for healthcare services.
Dr. Smith is a board-certified physician in internal medicine, hematology, oncology and pathology, and a published author of numerous federal and medical reports. He received his medical degree from Western University and trained at Oakland Naval Hospital and the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, where he founded and led the Breast Cancer Center. He graduated cum laude from San Diego State University.
Dr. Smith’s military decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal and Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation.