Experts

J. Stephen Morrison

Practitioner Senior Fellow

Fast Facts

  • Senior vice president, Center for Strategic and International Studies
  • Founder and director, CSIS Global Health Policy Center
  • Director and producer, The New Barbarianism, an award-winning documentary about the surge of violence against the health sector

 

Areas Of Expertise

  • Foreign Affairs
  • World Happenings
  • Domestic Affairs
  • Health
  • Science and Technology

J. Stephen Morrison is a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and directs its Global Health Policy Center. Through several high-level commissions, he has shaped decisions in Congress and the administration on HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and gender equality, and health security, including pandemic preparedness.

Currently, Morrison is working on a series of live studio conversations, "Gaza: The Human Toll," which are a product of the CSIS Bipartisan Alliance for Global Health Security.

The CSIS Bipartisan Alliance for Global Health Security is also addressing critical post-Covid challenges. Since 2018, Morrison has led global health security fora at the annual Munich Security Conference. He directed The New Barbarianism, an award-winning documentary on violence against the health sector. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, he has directed seven episodes of the CSIS video series Ukraine: The Human Price of War. He cohosts the weekly podcast series The CommonHealth. 

From 2021 to 2023, Morrison served as the James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. He is a trustee of the China Medical Board, a member of the board of the Rostropovich Vishnevskaya Foundation, and a member of advisory boards to the International Division at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Johns Hopkins University Center for Humanitarian Health. He served in the Clinton administration on the secretary of state’s policy planning staff and on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa. He taught for 12 years at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, holds a PhD in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale College.

War in Gaza
War in Gaza

J. Stephen Morrison News Feed

Miller Center Presents
Building the CDC that America needs
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant weaknesses in U.S. global health security policy and infrastructure, leading to crises on several fronts. The Miller Center’s new Health Care Policy Project joins Stephen Morrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)—also the Miller Center’s James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor—along with Tom Inglesby and Anne Zink for a timely and important conversation about what lies ahead for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In January 2023, the CSIS’s Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security released a compelling report, Building the CDC the Country Needs, which examines why the CDC is essential to protecting the health of Americans and highlights the peril the agency currently faces. Three years into the pandemic, what is the way forward to improve the CDC’s performance and restore the trust and confidence of the American people?
J. Stephen Morrison Miller Center Presents
CSIS
Ukraine: The Human Price of War
The CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security presents Ukraine: The Human Price of War, a short documentary series examining the shocking attack on the country and whether Russian President Vladimir Putin and his armed forces will continue their past behavior in Syria and Chechnya - targeting civilian populations and infrastructure - including the medical sector. Our exploration includes voices of Ukrainians on the ground and leading experts on security, humanitarian issues and international law. Ukraine: The Human Price of War is the fourth collaboration between CSIS Senior Vice President J. Stephen Morrison, and Peabody and Emmy award-winning journalist Justin Kenny (Small Footprint Films). Their first CSIS GHPC feature film, The New Barbarianism (2017), was awarded the Best Documentary prize at the LA Film Festival, aired on PBS, and was featured in the Christian Science Monitor, PBS NewsHour, and PBS’s Story in the Public Square.
J, Stephen Morrison CSIS
Cavalier Daily
Miller Center faculty discuss future of mask mandates, COVID-19 booster shot
A panel of professors and researchers discussed the pandemic’s impact on public health policy Wednesday, the first undertaking of the Miller Center’s Health Care Policy Initiative. The event included discussion about the legacy of COVID-19 in the U.S., how the Biden administration is dealing with the ongoing pandemic, the relationship between pandemics and foreign policy and how individuals can deal with uncertain public health measures as mask mandates are lifted around the country.
J. Stephen Morrison The Cavalier Daily
Miller Center Presents
The fight against COVID: Has the U.S. entered a new normal?
In early March, the White House unveiled its new coronavirus response strategy aimed at creating what some are calling the beginning of a “new normal” in the nation’s fight against COVID-19. As the Omicron wave continues its decline and several states loosen pandemic-related restrictions, our experts are having a “state of the pandemic” discussion that will assess the rapidly shifting public health approach, what the U.S. role will be in the global efforts to deal with COVID, and what we might expect in the months ahead.
J. Stephen Morrison Miller Center Presents
close up of blood pressure cuff and gauge
About the project
The Miller Center intends to launch a major initiative on health care policy. This effort will both parallel and engage our existing research programs in the presidency and event programs in national security.
Guian McKee and Margaret Riley
MC Presents
President Biden's first year
The Miller Center’s The First Year: POTUS 2017 project analyzed past presidential first years and has been able to offer careful, historical reflection to provide context for contemporary governance challenges. Presidential first years are the time when an administration assembles its team, establishes its processes for governing, identifies its priorities, and also weathers a series of crises when the world tests a new commander in chief.
J. Stephen Morrison Miller Center Presents