DJ Patil

Current work

DJ Patil is a co-founder of Warp Sciences, which the Computer History Museum describes as focused on accelerating the development of medicine. The same profile calls him the founding chief technology officer of Devoted Health, and Wikipedia says he became a general partner at GreatPoint Ventures in February 2023.^[2][1]

First U.S. Chief Data Scientist

On February 18, 2015 Patil was announced as the first U.S. Chief Data Scientist, serving in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy until 2017 under President Obama. The museum lists federal data, precision medicine, cancer research, criminal justice reform and national security among the areas he worked on. Wikipedia names the Police Data Initiative, the Data-Driven Justice Initiative and the Precision Medicine Initiative among the programs he helped launch.^[1][2]

Industry career

Wikipedia lists his private-sector roles as Head of Data Products and Chief Scientist at LinkedIn, Chief Product Officer at Color Labs and Vice President of Product at RelateIQ, which Salesforce later acquired, with earlier positions at Skype, PayPal and eBay for which it gives no titles or dates. In 2011 and 2012 he was data scientist in residence at Greylock Partners, and during that time he wrote two O'Reilly books, Building Data Science Teams and Data Jujitsu.^[1]

The museum credits him with co-coining the term data scientist. That claim is the museum's.^[2]

Academic and defense background

He earned a B.A. in mathematics from the University of California, San Diego and, per Wikipedia, a doctorate in applied mathematics from the University of Maryland, where he was also a faculty member and used NOAA open datasets to improve weather forecasting. In 2004 he worked in the Department of Defense's Advanced Systems and Concepts Office, leading the Threat Anticipation Project. The museum says he received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.^[1][2]

Devoted Health and investing

Patil joined the executive team of Devoted Health in October 2017, and in November 2017 became an adviser to Venrock. The museum lists early-stage investments including Figma, Confluent, Tabular, Monte Carlo, Chronosphere, Sumo Logic, Ola and RelateIQ.^[1][2]

Why he matters

Patil was the first person to hold the federal Chief Data Scientist post, and he wrote two O'Reilly books on building data science teams and turning data into products.^[1][2]

On The Executive List

DJ Patil is ranked No. 4 on The Executive List (October 2026) in the Chief Data Officers discipline. The ranking reflects The Executive Review's own editorial Trending Score; it is not an outside award, and placement on the list is never sold. View the October 2026 edition.