John Haaga is Director of the Division of Behavioral and Social Research in the National Institute on Aging (part of the US National Institutes of Health).   He leads NIA’s extramural program funding research in economics, demography, epidemiology, cognitive science, behavioral and population genetics, behavioral medicine, and health services research related to aging.  Division staff manage over 700 grants totaling $340m each year.  This program includes major data collection and dissemination in the United States and cross-national comparative research on global health and aging.   He served as Deputy Director of this division from 2004 to 2015.

Before joining NIA, he was Director of Domestic Programs and Director of the Center for Public Information on Population Research at the Population Reference Bureau, a nonprofit research organization.  During 1994-97 he was staff director for the Committee on Population of the National Academy of Sciences.  He has served as President of the Association of Population Centers, and as an elected Board member, Finance Committee Chair, and Secretary-Treasurer of the Population Association of America.  From 1991 to 1994 he directed extension research in family planning and maternal and child health at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh.  During the 1980s, Dr. Haaga was a Policy Analyst in the health program at RAND and a Research Associate for the Cornell University International Nutrition program.  His PhD in Policy Analysis was awarded by the RAND Graduate School, and he has a BA in Modern History (with first-class honours) from Oxford University and an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University. He has taught courses at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, Georgetown University, and the Defense Intelligence College.