Steven T. Smith, Acting Deputy Director, Fogarty International Center

Steve Smith has joined the Fogarty International Center as Acting Deputy Director. He has returned to the NIH Bethesda campus after more than twenty years of international experience working for the U.S. government as a health diplomat. Most recently he was posted to United States Mission in Geneva Switzerland as the Representative of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (2019-2025). In Geneva, Steve represented HHS and the United States in international negotiations and WHO governing body meetings.

Previously, Steve served as PEPFAR Coordinator in South Africa (2004-2006) during the initial years of PEPFAR, Director of the NIAID Office of Global Research (2007-2010), Haiti Health Reconstruction Coordinator (2010-2011), HHS Health Attaché to India (2011-2013), and HHS Health Attaché to South Africa (2013-2019).

Steve was Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary in the HHS Office of Global Affairs in 2017. Prior to working at NIH and HHS, Steve worked as a State Department Foreign Service Officer in Cameroon, South Africa and Haiti. Steve is a graduate of Amherst College and Columbia University, and he studied at the University of Nairobi.

Education

• Amherst College
• Columbia University

Updated March 10, 2026