Biography

Audie A. Atienza is a senior program officer in the Digital & Mobile Technologies Section of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program Branch within NCATS’ Division of Clinical Innovation, where he manages a portfolio of CTSA Program grants. Prior to joining NCATS in 2020, Atienza served as a senior program officer at the National Institute on Aging and the National Cancer Institute. He previously worked on special assignments as a senior advisor to the NIH Office of the Director (Office of Data Science, Office of Science Policy) and to the Immediate Office of the Secretary (Office of the Chief Technology Officer) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Atienza has collaborated with the White House (Office of Science and Technology Policy, Office of the Vice President of the United States, and Office of the First Lady of the United States); Office of the Surgeon General, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and Office of the Chief Privacy Officer. He has led national and international scientific meetings on eHealth, mHealth/telemedicine, chronic disease prevention, behavioral health, data science and health technology innovations and also has served as an NIH program scientist on several NIH-wide initiatives, including the NIH Roadmap Initiative; NIH Gene, Environment and Health Initiative; mHealth Summit; NIH Big Data to Knowledge Initiative; and NIH Post-Acute Sequalae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection Initiative.

Atienza earned his Bachelor of Arts in psychology from the University of California at San Diego and his doctorate in clinical psychology from Kent State University. Following his clinical psychology internship at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System as a behavioral medicine intern, he completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in cardiovascular disease epidemiology and prevention at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Research Topics

Atienza’s research interests include behavioral health, health technology innovation, real-world data, real-time or just-in-time data, mobile health/telemedicine, chronic disease prevention, physical activity and exercise, stress and coping, rare and undiagnosed diseases, family caregiving, data science, public-private partnerships and health policy. Throughout his career, Atienza has worked to incorporate novel technologies and innovative methods in health research to better understand and improve the lives of individuals and populations.