★ MMT PremiumKey PeopleAgency Profilesmissionmeetstech.com
Organizational Intelligence · MMT Premium

Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health
Leadership and Contracting Organization

Current as of October 19, 2026 • Director: Alicia Jackson (sworn in Oct 20, 2025) • Sources: arpa-h.gov/about/people · HHS HCA roster
← ARPA-H profile
ℹ
An agency mid-rebuild. Inaugural Director Renee Wegrzyn was removed in February 2025; Alicia Jackson was sworn in October 20, 2025 and is rebuilding the executive layer. As of October 19, 2026 the Deputy Director role is still not held outright (the CMO is "assuming some duties"). Health Science Futures now has a named Director, Gene Civillico, with Tyler Best moved to Deputy. Scalable Solutions lists no office leadership at all, and the Resilient Systems Office does not appear on the People page at all. The Business Innovation Division Director billet, in recruitment since April 2026, is now held by Catherine Stevens. The HHS HCA roster, re-read October 19, 2026 in a browser (roster stamp still April 27, 2026), names Benjamin Bryant as Acting HCA, so whether the HCA designation has moved to Stevens is pending official confirmation.
Office of the Director
Director
Alicia Jackson
Director, ARPA-H
Presidential appointment · sworn in Oct 20, 2025
Deputy (Partial)
Rafid Fadul
Chief Medical Officer · assuming some duties of ARPA-H Deputy Director
The Deputy Director position is not filled outright
Acting
Chief of Staff
Maxwell Watkins
Chief of Staff
Counsel
Dan Barry
General Counsel
Admin & Management
Keith Martin
Director, Administration and Management · Executive Officer
The Four Mission Offices (28 program managers across three of them)
Health Science Futures
Gene Civillico
Director, Health Science Futures (HSF)
Deputy Director: Tyler Best (Acting Director on the Aug 25, 2026 page) · 12 program managers
Proactive Health
Glen Coppersmith
Director, Proactive Health
Deputy: Al Bugazia · 8 program managers (Andrew Carney among them, People page Oct 19, 2026)
Scalable Solutions
No leadership listed
Scalable Solutions
Natalie Kates (Acting Director on the Aug 25, 2026 page) no longer appears. The People page (re-read Oct 19, 2026) lists 8 program managers for this office, James Coburn among them, and no director or deputy.
Unlisted
Resilient Systems
No leadership listed
Resilient Systems Office (RSO)
The office does not appear on the People page at all as of Oct 19, 2026: no director, no deputy, no program managers. The status of RSO's Mission Office ISO (ARPA-H-SOL-24-103) was not re-checked on this pass.
Unlisted
Business, Commercialization, and IT
Commercialization
Neil Wyant
Director, Office of Commercialization
IT & Data
Nikolaos Ipiotis
CIO, Office of Information Technology and Data Innovation
CISO: Christopher Pashley
Comptroller
Carmelita Chadwick-Gallo
Director, Comptroller Division
Acting Deputy: Etaf Khan
Government Relations
Jen Cama
Director, Division of Government Relations and Strategy
International Affairs: Amy Lin, Director
Strategy
Sara Reistad-Long
Chief Strategy Officer, Strategic Affairs Office
Executive Secretary and Senior Advisor to the Director: Rehana Mohammed
The Contracting Chain (Business Innovation Division)
BID Director · HCA Billet
Catherine Stevens
Director, Business Innovation Division
Listed on the People page Oct 5 and Oct 19, 2026, filling the billet in recruitment since April 2026. The vacancy announcement described it as ARPA-H's highest acquisition authority, holding Head of Contracting authority including bid-protest and claims decisions. The HHS HCA roster, re-read Oct 19, 2026 in a browser, still lists Bryant as HCA (Acting) under a roster stamp of April 27, 2026, so her HCA designation is pending official confirmation. Her bio link on arpa-h.gov (about/people/catherine-stevens) returned 404 on Oct 19, 2026.
Acting HCA
Benjamin Bryant
Deputy Director, Business Innovation Division · Head of Contracting Activity (Acting, per the HHS HCA roster)
Named Acting HCA on the HHS HCA roster (roster stamp Apr 27, 2026; re-read Oct 19, 2026); still listed as BID Deputy Director on the People page Oct 19, 2026 · benjamin.bryant@arpa-h.gov · the working POC for OT / CSO / SBIR acquisition questions until the roster says otherwise
Acting
Why the BID hire matters for capture: ARPA-H buys through other transactions, its own solicitations, and prototype-style instruments where the contracting officer's judgment is the process. The BID Director billet has filled: Catherine Stevens is listed as Director, and Bryant remains the deputy who has been signing as Acting HCA. Watch the HHS HCA roster: when the HCA designation moves to Stevens, acquisition risk tolerance resets across every open ISO.
Sources. ARPA-H People page (verified 2026-08-25, re-verified 2026-10-05 from the MMT leadership-roster snapshot: HSF Director, Scalable Solutions, BID Director, Strategy Office and program manager counts updated from it; re-read 2026-10-19 with no change: Sara Reistad-Long still Chief Strategy Officer, Carney and Coburn still program managers, Resilient Systems still absent; arpa-h.gov/about/people). Jackson bio (arpa-h.gov). HHS HCA and Key Managers roster (hhs.gov, roster stamp 2026-04-27, re-read 2026-10-19 in a browser because hhs.gov answers 403 to scripts; Bryant still HCA (Acting)). BID Director vacancy announcement (arpa-h.gov, April 2026). Open funding opportunities (arpa-h.gov). The Wegrzyn-to-Jackson transition narrative is partly trade press and is annotated as background, not roster data. Data current as of October 19, 2026.

What changed since this was published? Vacancies fill. Acting designations turn Permanent. We re-verify quarterly. If you spot a stale entry, email mary@missionmeetstech.com · we will update and re-cite.