Stephen I. Katz

Stephen Ira Katz (1941 - December 20, 2018) was an American immunodermatologist who served as the director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases from 1995 to 2018. He was the Marion B. Sulzberger Professor of Dermatology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences from 1989 to 1995.

In 1995, the NIH director, Harold E. Varmus selected Katz as the second director of National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). He served as director from August 1994 until he died on December 20, 2018.

Katz was married to Linda. He had three children. Katz died suddenly on December 20, 2018.

In 1989, Katz also assumed the position of Marion B. Sulzberger Professor of Dermatology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, a position that he held until 1995.

Katz then became senior investigator in the dermatology branch of the National Cancer Institute (1974–2014) and assumed the position of acting chief in 1977. In 1980, he became chief of the branch, a position he held until 2002.

Katz was born in New York in 1941. Katz attended Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. He graduated with honors from the University of Maryland, College Park. He completed a M.D. at Tulane University School of Medicine with honors in 1966. He conducted a medical internship at the Los Angeles County Hospital and did his dermatology residency at the University of Miami Medical Center from 1967 to 1970. He served in the U.S. military at Walter Reed Army Medical Center from 1970 to 1972. From 1972 to 1974, Katz did a postdoctoral fellowship at the Royal College of Surgeons of England and obtained a Ph.D. in immunology from the University of London in 1974.