A Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) Systems Center (SSC) Atlantic employee was recently recognized with a Federal 100 Award.

Heather Burke, currently assigned as chief engineer at Program Executive Office for Defense Health care Management Systems, received the award April 7 at the Fed 100 gala in Washington, D.C.

For 27 years the Federal 100 Awards have been presented to government, industry and academic leaders who have gone above and beyond to make a real difference in the way technology has been procured, managed and used in the federal IT community to make government work better.

The Program Executive Office for Defense Health care Management Systems is working to efficiently improve health care for the active duty military, veterans and beneficiaries. Burke's team is making the Department of Defense's current electronic health records (EHR) compatible and interoperable with data from the Department of Veterans Affairs while preparing the Pentagon's sprawling health service for the transition to a new EHR system, due to begin testing this year.

Burke tackled the challenge of VA and DoD interoperability by standardizing processes, tools and accountability. Additionally, she developed a testing infrastructure to smooth the transition to the new system - a critical project that came in on time and on budget.

Burke graduated from Clemson University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering in 2002. She is Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA)-certified in Systems Engineering Level 3 and Test and Evaluation Level 1.

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