Pathways to Global Health: Bill Steiger’s Unique Journey in Public Service

On September 16, 2026, my peers and I had the pleasure of speaking with Bill Steiger, Ph.D., the chief executive officer of Malaria No More. Before this role, he served as United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s chief of staff and sat on the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

What struck me most about Steiger’s story was that he did not have a conventional path to a global health career. Instead of medicine or public health, he studied history at Yale University and later specialized in Latin American history at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Steiger shared that his parents both worked in government, which sparked his interest in public service. This interest, along with his Latin American history background and experience speaking Spanish and Portuguese, led him to pursue an internship at the U.S. Embassy in Brazil, where he gained an early view of diplomacy and the ways governments work across borders.

After UCLA, Steiger worked briefly in consulting. However, after realizing his passion was public service, he worked on Governor Tommy Thompson’s campaign in Wisconsin. After the campaign victory, Steiger began working in education and international engagement departments at the state level. Steiger described these state-government years as foundational because they taught him how public institutions operate and prepared him for the rest of his career.

After moving to the federal level, he was put in charge of the health portfolio. He shared that his people and budget-management skills helped him as he entered the field of health care for the first time. This role marked the beginning of Steiger’s work in global health and led to subsequent leadership positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, USAID, and multilateral institutions.

Steiger is now the chief executive officer of Malaria No More, an organization seeking to accelerate progress toward ending malaria. The organization advocates for sustained political and financial commitments to malaria programs, supports the delivery of proven prevention and treatment tools, and helps advance innovations.

Reflecting on Steiger’s talk, my biggest takeaway was to remain open to opportunities rather than plan everything in advance. I really enjoyed learning how he successfully transitioned to diverse roles throughout his career by building on skills developed in earlier roles. This was an important lesson as I explore future career paths and am uncertain about what I will do in the future. His talk provided a valuable perspective: managing people and budgets, understanding institutions, and working across cultures can be as important as developing expertise in one particular sector. It also reminded me that career paths do not need to be linear; a willingness to learn and adapt while taking on different responsibilities can go a long way in shaping my career.

Madhav Bahl (SFS’29) is an undergraduate student studying international economics at Georgetown University.