Tara Schwetz
Acting Principal Deputy Director, National Institutes of Health
Tara A. Schwetz, Ph.D. is the Associate Deputy Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Alternate Deputy Ethics Counselor for NIH. For much of 2021, Dr. Schwetz was on detail to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy as the Assistant Director for Biomedical Science Initiatives. In this role she led the efforts to stand up the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The Biden Administration has proposed ARPA-H to tackle some of the biggest health challenges facing Americans by driving medical innovation more rapidly. Throughout her nearly 10-years at NIH, Dr. Schwetz has served as the Acting Director and Acting Deputy Director of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), the Chief of the Strategic Planning and Evaluation Branch at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, among numerous positions. Dr. Schwetz has led a number of high-profile, NIH-wide efforts and has spearheaded several strategic planning efforts, such as the first NIH-Wide Strategic Plan, NIH-Wide COVID-19 Strategic Plan, NIAID Strategic Plan for Tuberculosis Research, NIH Office of the Director Strategic Engagement Agenda, and played a significant role in the development of the National Pain Strategy. She received a B.S. in biochemistry with honors from Florida State University and a Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of South Florida, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University.
