Somesh Nigam joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana in February 2017, bringing with him more than 25 years of experience in leading innovative healthcare data and analytics programs at major technology, pharmaceutical, medical device and health insurance companies. Nigam now oversees all analytics and data functions at Blue Cross. Nigam was previously vice president of Information & Data Governance and Health Informatics in IBM’s Global Chief Data Office. There, he played a key role in driving the company’s over-arching mission to establish data as the foundation of its cognitive business transformation. He worked with all of IBM’s business units, including the Watson Health team, on ways to use IBM’s vast repositories of data strategically. Before joining IBM, Nigam was senior vice president and chief informatics officer at Independence Blue Cross (IBX) in Philadelphia. He led the Informatics division, which built self-service data and analytics tools for employer groups, provider/ACO organizations and departments within IBX. He championed cutting-edge data science initiatives, working with other IBX business units to use reporting and analytics to cut waste and fraud, reduce costs and manage quality. His prior experience includes positions in informatics, enterprise strategy, and research & development at Johnson & Johnson. He also worked in manufacturing operations with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and founded an eCommerce startup, Vinimaya, Inc. Nigam is a sought-after speaker at national healthcare analytics conferences and forums. He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals, including a recent American Journal of Managed Care series he co-authored on the effectiveness of patient-centered medical homes. He holds a Ph.D. and a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor. He earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India. He has served on the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Data Advisory Subcommittee, the Big Data Workgroup at The Conference Board and the Executive Board for the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk Less   View all posts