Dr. J. Stephen Morrison is senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and director of its Global Health Policy Center since he founded it in 2008. Dr. Morrison has expertise in Africa, family planning, maternal and child health, immunizations, global health, health and security, infectious diseases, multilateral institutions, and U.S. development policy.

From 2000 until 2008, he directed the CSIS Africa Program, while also launching the CSIS Task Force on HIV/AIDS (2001-2007), co-chaired by Senators John Kerry and Bill Frist. During the Clinton administration, he served on the Policy Planning Staff, under Secretaries Christopher and Albright, and prior to that, conceptualized and founded USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives. He served in the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa 1992-1993, directing its transitional work promoting democracy and good governance. From 1987-1991, he was senior staff on the House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Howard Wolpe (D-MI.)

Dr. Morrison is the author or editor of a number of books, including Rising U.S. Stakes in Africa: Seven Proposals to Strengthen U.S.-Africa Policy (2004); Global Health Policy in the Second Obama Term (2013); U.S. Navy Humanitarian Assistance in an Era of Austerity (2013); and Ending the Cycle of Crisis and Complacency in U.S. Global Health Security (2020).

Dr. Morrison writes widely, has directed several high-level commissions, and is a frequent commentator on U.S. foreign policy, global health, Africa, and foreign assistance. He created two feature length documentaries—The New Barbarianism (2017) on global violence against health workers; and The Pandemic Paradox, on the history of HIV/AIDS. Dr. Morrison taught for 12 years at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Wisconsin and is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale College.