Dr. Steven Schiff Named Director of NIH Fogarty International Center

Note: Single-source report; awaiting corroboration.

Dr. Steven Schiff has been selected as the new director of the Fogarty International Center (FIC) at the National Institutes of Health and as the NIH associate director for international research. He began his role on June 4, 2026, as announced by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, M.D.

Schiff is a pediatric neurosurgeon and global health researcher with nearly 40 years of experience in global health, microbial disease epidemiology, and pediatric neurological disorders. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery, vice chair for global health in the Department of Neurosurgery, and professor of epidemiology and electrical and computer engineering at Yale University.

As director of FIC, Schiff will lead NIH’s global health research efforts by supporting collaborations between U.S. and international investigators, strengthening partnerships among research institutions globally, and training future global health scientists. He will manage FIC’s approximately $95 million annual budget, most of which supports research grants and training programs.

Dr. Schiff has authored nearly 250 scientific publications in neural control engineering, sustainable health engineering, and global health research. He founded the Center for Neural Engineering at Penn State University and helped develop Yale’s Center for Global Neurosurgery. His research includes the identification of neonatal paenibacilliosis, a severe infant brain infection mainly caused by Paenibacillus thiaminolyticus. This condition is increasingly recognized as an underdiagnosed cause of neonatal sepsis in resource-limited settings and has recently been found in infants in the U.S.

Schiff earned his undergraduate degree in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed his M.D. and Ph.D. at Duke University, where he also completed a general surgery internship and neurosurgery residency. He completed a pediatric neurosurgery fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.