DJ Patil

With open police data, Patil saw that data helped track law enforcement actions’ disproportionate interactions with minorities, the poor and those with mental health concerns. In a memorandum to the American People, Patil said, “if all the data from law enforcement were effectively captured, analyzed, and shared, imagine how the effective and analysis of data could advance proven reforms, increase efficiency, and prevent injustice.”. Efforts to decrease the injustice is considered the Data-Driven Justice Initiative (DDJ). DDJ aimed to help governments from the county to the state level to filter low-level offenders and those with mental illness from higher level offenders and the criminal system at large. Changing the approach to pre-trial incarceration would allow low-risk offenders to shorten jail time especially if they cannot afford bail. At its start in 2015, more than 91 million people are covered by the DDJ.

Patil was a member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council before resigning in August 2017.

In October 2017, it was reported that Patil joined the executive team of Devoted Health. He is currently the Head of Technology.

On November 14, 2017, Patil announced that he was joining Venrock as an adviser.

On February 18, 2015, the White House announced Patil the first U.S. Chief Data Scientist (Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Data Policy and Chief Data Scientist). In addresses to the public, Patil states that "The mission of the U.S. Chief Data Scientist, simply put, is to responsibly unleash the power of data to benefit all Americans" and, in addition, that his team's priority to do so by making data.

In a memorandum on February 20, 2015, entitled “Unleashing the Power of Data to Serve the American People”, Patil outlined his goals as Chief Data Scientist was in:

In 2015, President Obama initiated The President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing in response to Ferguson shootings in 2014. Included were the Police Data Initiative and the Data-Driven Justice Initiative.

More than 170 datasets were released at the start of the initiative in 2015.

Concerned with maintaining these principles grew for the future as Patil addressed concerns about the effect of American Healthcare Act (AHCA) on contributions to PMI. He feared that, with the AHCA, people will be scared to donate their genomic information because it will expose pre-existing conditions. While there are protections in place to secure data privacy such as the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) instilled in 2008, Patil expressed a worry that the Act would not be heeded.

In 2004, Patil worked in the Advanced Systems and Concepts Office in the Department of Defense. He served as the project leader for the Threat Anticipation Project. His role was to anticipate threats connected to and surrounding terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and failed states (with an emphasis on human rights violations), employing social network analysis to help anticipate these threats. Patil described himself as part of “the second wave of people” who were to use data to detect signalled noise, a concern which grew following the 9/11 attacks.

Patil attended Kennedy Middle School, Monta Vista High School and De Anza College, all in Cupertino, California. While at Kennedy, he participated in a student exchange program, visiting Toyokawa, Cupertino's sister city in Japan along with nine other students in 1988. In high school, he led a tumultuous life, often getting into trouble and graduating in 1992 near the bottom of his class due to "his high jinks and poor SAT scores." He followed his girlfriend to De Anza Community College, where he had a life-changing moment on the first day of calculus class when he realized he understood nothing of the professor's lecture. He holds a B.A. in mathematics from Earl Warren College at University of California, San Diego. He received a PhD from University of Maryland College Park, in applied mathematics, which is part of the University of Maryland College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. He also served as a faculty member at the University of Maryland, and used open datasets published by NOAA to improve numerical weather forecasting.

Dhanurjay "DJ" Patil (born August 3, 1974) is an American mathematician and computer scientist who served as the Chief Data Scientist of the United States Office of Science and Technology Policy. from 2015 to 2017. He is the Head of Technology for Devoted Health. He previously served as the Vice President of Product at RelateIQ, which was acquired by Salesforce.com, as Chief Product Officer of Color Labs, and as Head of Data Products and Chief Scientist of LinkedIn. His father, Suhas Patil, is a venture capitalist and the founder of Cirrus Logic.