A native of Germany, Dr. Schneewind received both his M.D. (1988) and his Ph.D. (1988) in Microbiology from the University of Cologne. He obtained subsequent post-doctoral training at Rockefeller University's Laboratory of Bacteriology and Immunology under the mentorship of Dr. Vincent Fischetti. In 1992, he received his first appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, where he was subsequently promoted to Associate Professor (1997) and Professor (2001). Dr. Schneewind then joined the Biological Sciences Division faculty at the University of Chicago in 2001.

Dr. Schneewind's research program examines the mechanisms and strategies whereby pathogenic bacteria cause human diseases. His research has produced more than 75 peer-reviewed publications and several book chapters. Dr. Schneewind has also served as an editorial board member for Molecular Microbiology, Journal of Bacteriology, and Trends in Microbiology. Additionally, he serves as a consultant to many well-known pharmaceutical companies, lending his academic expertise to translational research efforts.

Dr. Schneewind has received many honors and awards during the course of his distinguished career. In 1995, he received the Stein-Oppenheimer Research Award and in 2000 he received the Shipley Award from Harvard Medical School. In 2003, he became Principal Investigator of the Great Lakes Regional Center of Excellence (GLRCE) for Biodefense, a program supporting a consortium of now 20 area institutions that is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) with more than $35 million over five years. Under Dr. Schneewind's leadership, the Great Lakes Regional Center will focus on developing vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics for dreaded diseases such as anthrax, botulism, tularemia, hemorrhagic fever viruses, and plague. In that same year, he aided the successful application for a state-of-the-art Biosafety Level 3 facility, the Howard T. Ricketts Laboratory at Argonne National Laboratory. Construction is slated to be finished in August of 2008.  He currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation as well as on several National Institutes of Health study sections.

Dr. Schneewind is married to Dr. Dominique Missiakas an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Chicago. They have two children, Daphne Schneewind, 10; and Chloe Schneewind; 8.