NIH just handed a pediatric neurosurgeon who founded a Center for Neural Engineering the keys to its $95 million global health research operation. Steven Schiff, M.D., Ph.D., started as director of the Fogarty International Center and NIH associate director for international research on June 4, 2026.
The guy isn't your typical agency head. Schiff is the Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery at Yale, with appointments in epidemiology and electrical and computer engineering. He's been chasing the sustainable control of infant infections in the developing world, funded by two of NIH's most competitive grants — the Director's Pioneer Award (2015) and Transformative Award (2018).
The Engineer Behind the Scalpel
Schiff founded the Center for Neural Engineering at Penn State and helped build the Center for Global Neurosurgery at Yale. His nearly 250 publications span neural control engineering, sustainable health engineering, and straight-up global health. That blend of circuit-thinking and field epidemiology is rare, and it's exactly what Fogarty's mandate needs: stitching together U.S. investigators with research institutions worldwide, training the next generation of global health scientists.
From Paenibacilliosis to Predictive Public Health
Schiff's lab identified neonatal paenibacilliosis, a severe infant brain infection caused mostly by Paenibacillus thiaminolyticus. The disease is now recognized as an underdiagnosed cause of neonatal sepsis in resource-limited settings and has even turned up in U.S. infants. NIH director Jay Bhattacharya specifically flagged Schiff's work on "predictive personalized public health" as the kind of cutting-edge thinking he wants at the leadership table.
What This Means for NIH’s Global Footprint
Fogarty's annual budget — roughly $95 million — mostly goes to research grants and training programs. Schiff also sits on the FDA's Medical Devices Advisory Committee and is a fellow of multiple professional societies including the American Physical Society. That's a signal that the center will likely lean into measurement, modeling, and device-level interventions rather than just traditional epidemiology.
Schiff’s background suggests he'll push for engineering-based solutions to neonatal sepsis and other global killers — exactly the sort of hard-nosed, data-driven approach that's been missing from too many global health initiatives.
Source: NIH Selects Dr. Steven Schiff as Director of Fogarty International Center, Associate Director for International Research
Domain: nih.gov
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