Michael Astrue | |
---|---|
15th Commissioner of the Social Security Administration | |
In office February 12, 2007 –January 19, 2013 | |
President | George W. Bush Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Linda S. McMahon (acting) |
Succeeded by | Carolyn Colvin (acting) |
Personal details | |
Born | October 1,1956 |
Political party | Republican |
Education | Yale University (BA) Harvard University (JD) |
Michael James Astrue (born October 1,1956) [1] is an American lawyer and,under the pen name A. M. Juster,a poet and critic. He served as the 15th Commissioner of the Social Security Administration from 2007 to 2013. Astrue was Poetry Editor of First Things from 2018 to 2020,and became Poetry Editor of Plough Quarterly in 2020.
He graduated magna cum laude from Roxbury Latin School in 1974. [2] He received his B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University in 1978 with honors in Philosophy and English,where he was also President of the Yale Political Union and won the Pierson Scholarship Award. [2] [3] He received his Juris Doctor cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1983. [3] In 2013 he received an honorary doctor of laws from the New England School of Law and an honorary doctor of humane letters from Southern Vermont College. [4] [5]
After graduating from Yale,he worked briefly as a staff assistant for Senator Richard Schweiker (R-PA) and as a demonstration program evaluator for two non-profit organizations. [3] He also took a two-month leave of absence to be co-coordinator of the 1980 John B. Anderson primary campaign in Connecticut,but did not support Anderson's run as an independent. [6]
After graduating from law school,he clerked from 1983 to 1984 for U.S. District Court Judge Walter Jay Skinner. [3] He worked as a litigation associate at the Boston law firm of Ropes &Gray from 1984 to 1985 and then worked in the United States Department of Health and Human Services as an Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislation (Human Services) from 1985 to 1986. [2] He then served as Counselor to the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration from 1986 to 1988 where he led the agency's efforts to end its controversial policy of “nonacquiescence”to certain federal court decisions. [3]
In April 1988,President Reagan named him Associate Counsel to the President where he served until June 1989. In that capacity he served briefly as White House Ethics Officer,oversaw litigation responses related to the Iran-Contra affair,and drafted the first operations plan for the 25th Amendment. [7] [8] President Bush nominated him for General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in June 1989 and the Senate unanimously confirmed him later that month. He served until November 1992 and,by virtue of his position,he also had concurrent appointments to the United States Access Board,which received broad regulatory authority after enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990,and to the Administrative Conference of the United States. [2]
As General Counsel,Astrue personally tried and won the first federal HIV discrimination enforcement suit, [9] he personally argued and won the first patient dumping enforcement suit, [10] and co-authored with David M. McIntosh the first accelerated drug approval regulation targeted for treatments for fatal diseases for which there was no significant treatment. [11] He also was involved in high-profile disputes with National Institutes of Health Director Bernadine Healy over the patenting of human DNA sequences of unidentified function and with the state of Oregon's use of polling data about quality of life to deny medications to people with HIV;his positions ultimately prevailed in both disputes. [12] [13]
Astrue worked as a partner in the health law department of the Boston law firm of Mintz,Levin,Cohn,Ferris,Glovsky and Popeo from November 1992 until June 1993 until he joined Biogen as General Counsel in June 1993. At Biogen he was known for prevailing in multiple lawsuits attempting to block the sale of Avonex,which became a breakthrough drug for multiple sclerosis,and for obtaining important patent extensions. [14]
In 2000 Astrue joined Transkaryotic Therapies as Senior Vice President-Administration and General Counsel. [14] In that year he was also elected to a two-year term as Chair of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council where he led the creation of the council's charitable arm,now known as MassBioEd. [15] [2] In 2001-2002 he was considered President Bush's top choice for Food and Drug Administration Commissioner but faced opposition from Senate Democrats because of his industry experience. [16] In 2003 he briefly left Transkaryotic Therapies and then returned as chief executive officer. [17] In twenty-six months as chief executive officer he engineered one of the most successful turnarounds in biotechnology history and then lost control of the company to Shire Pharmaceuticals in a controversial hostile takeover. [18] [19] In August 2005,Astrue was named Interim Chief Executive Officer of the failing Epix Pharmaceuticals and orchestrated a merger of the company with Predix Pharmaceuticals in May,2006. [20]
President Bush nominated Astrue to be Commissioner of Social Security on September 14,2006. The Senate unanimously confirmed him on February 1,2007,and he was sworn in on February 12,2007. [21] [22] He inherited a rapidly growing backlog of disability cases,which he reduced significantly over his six years in office. One of his initiatives in this area was a system called “Compassionate Allowances”which expedites review of claims certain or almost certain to be allowed,often within a matter of days. [23] A list of these qualifying conditions was created too which are all very serious,difficult to live with,and many are considered terminal illnesses. [24] He moved the agency from its longstanding reliance on COBOL toward web-based systems and improved the quantity and quality of the agency's electronic services,which ranked at the top of the public satisfaction surveys of the American Customer Satisfaction Index. [25] He saw that the agency's fraying computer center would be out of capacity by late 2012 and had no significant backup capacity;he built two new co-equal data centers,one of which became operational during his term and one of which became operational shortly after he left office. [26] [27] During his tenure the time to a hearing dropped to under a year,but then rose quickly after his tenure. [26]
In August 2013,Astrue stepped into the interim CEO position at InVivo Therapeutics,a failing biotech company whose founder/CEO,Frank Reynolds,would later face criminal charges. Astrue refocused the company,put the long-delayed clinical program back on track,and identified his successor for the board. He stepped down in January 2014;the company was then able to raise money and continue work on its product for spinal cord injury. [28] [29] [30]
Since leaving InVivo,Astrue has focused on his writing (see below) and nonprofit boards. He is currently a board member for the National Alliance for Hispanic Health and the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. [31] [32]
In the June 2010 issue of First Things ,Paul Mariani disclosed that Astrue had been publishing original and translated poetry for many years under the pseudonym of A. M. Juster,an anagram of M. J. Astrue. [33] His work has appeared in top literary journals,including Poetry , Hudson Review , Paris Review ,and Rattle . [34] [35] [36]
In 1995,Mona Van Duyn selected his sonnet “Moscow Zoo”as the winner of the 1995 Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award sponsored by The Formalist . He went on to win again in 2000 and 2008,thus becoming the only three-time winner of the award. In 2002 Rachel Hadas selected his book of original poetry and translations,The Secret Language of Women,as the winner of the 2002 Richard Wilbur Award. In 2014 he was a co-winner of the Willis Barnstone Translation Prize for his translation of a Middle Welsh poem by proto-feminist Gwerful Mechain.
He has published nine books:Longing for Laura (Petrarch translations) (Birch Brook Press 2001);The Secret Language of Women (University of Evansville Press 2003);The Satires of Horace (University of Pennsylvania Press 2008);Tibullus' Elegies (Oxford University Press 2012);Saint Aldhelm’s Riddles (University of Toronto Press 2015);Sleaze &Slander (Measure Press 2016);The Billy Collins Experience (Kelsay Books 2016);The Elegies of Maximianus (University of Pennsylvania Press 2018);and John Milton's The Book of Elegies (Paideia Institute Press 2019). He became the poetry editor of the journal First Things in September 2018. [37]
In the United States,Social Security is the commonly used term for the federal Old-Age,Survivors,and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program and is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The Social Security Act was passed in 1935,and the existing version of the Act,as amended,encompasses several social welfare and social insurance programs.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a means-tested program that provides cash payments to disabled children,disabled adults,and individuals aged 65 or older who are citizens or nationals of the United States. SSI was created by the Social Security Amendments of 1972 and is incorporated in Title 16 of the Social Security Act. The program is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and began operations in 1974.
The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security,a social insurance program consisting of retirement,disability and survivor benefits. To qualify for most of these benefits,most workers pay Social Security taxes on their earnings;the claimant's benefits are based on the wage earner's contributions. Otherwise benefits such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are given based on need.
The Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited is a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company. It is the third largest pharmaceutical company in Asia,behind Sinopharm and Shanghai Pharmaceuticals,and one of the top 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world by revenue. The company has over 49,578 employees worldwide and achieved US$19.299 billion in revenue during the 2018 fiscal year. The company is focused on oncology,rare diseases,neuroscience,gastroenterology,plasma-derived therapies and vaccines. Its headquarters is located in Chuo-ku,Osaka,and it has an office in Nihonbashi,Chuo,Tokyo. In January 2012,Fortune Magazine ranked the Takeda Oncology Company as one of the 100 best companies to work for in the United States. As of 2015,Christophe Weber was appointed as the CEO and president of Takeda.
The Bristol-Myers Squibb Company,doing business as Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS),is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in Princeton,New Jersey,BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and consistently ranks on the Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporations. For fiscal 2022,it had a total revenue of $46.2 billion.
F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG,commonly known as Roche,is a Swiss multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions:Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company,Roche Holding AG,has shares listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The company headquarters are located in Basel. Roche is the fifth-largest pharmaceutical company in the world by revenue and the leading provider of cancer treatments globally. In 2023,the company’s seat in Forbes Global 2000 was 76.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is an American biopharmaceutical company based in Boston,Massachusetts. It was one of the first biotech firms to use an explicit strategy of rational drug design rather than combinatorial chemistry. It maintains headquarters in Boston,Massachusetts,and three research facilities,in San Diego,California,and Milton Park,Oxfordshire,England.
Robert Samuel Langer Jr. FREng is an American biotechnologist,businessman,chemical engineer,chemist,and inventor. He is one of the nine Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Venrock is an American venture capital firm formed in 1969 to build upon the successful investing activities of the Rockefeller family that began in the late 1930s. It has offices in Palo Alto,California,New York City,and Boston,Massachusetts.
Alex Michael Azar II is an American attorney,businessman,lobbyist,and former pharmaceutical executive who served as the U.S. secretary of health and human services from 2018 to 2021. He was also chairman of the White House Coronavirus Task Force from its inception in January 2020 to February 2020,when he was replaced by Vice President Mike Pence.
Jo Anne Bryant Barnhart was the 14th commissioner of the Social Security Administration,filling a six-year term of office that ran through January 19,2007.
Social Security Disability Insurance is a payroll tax-funded federal insurance program of the United States government. It is managed by the Social Security Administration and designed to provide monthly benefits to people who have a medically determinable disability that restricts their ability to be employed. SSDI does not provide partial or temporary benefits but rather pays only full benefits and only pays benefits in cases in which the disability is "expected to last at least one year or result in death." Relative to disability programs in other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),the SSDI program in the United States has strict requirements regarding eligibility.
Karen Eileen Spilka is an American politician and attorney serving as a Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate. She represents the towns of Ashland,Framingham,Holliston,Hopkinton,Medway and Natick in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts. She has served as the 95th President of the Massachusetts Senate since July 2018. Previously she served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2001 to 2005.
Ivor Royston is an American oncologist,researcher,scientist,entrepreneur and venture capitalist,recognized for his efforts to develop treatments for multiple disease targets and to fund biotechnology companies with promising science,technology or medicines. He speaks regularly at healthcare conferences and symposia throughout the United States,Europe and Asia.
Acorda Therapeutics,Inc. is an American biotechnology company based in Pearl River,New York. The company develops therapies that improve neurological function in people with Parkinson's disease,multiple sclerosis and other neurological disorders. Acorda Therapeutics manufactures and markets the drugs Inbrija and Ampyra (dalfampridine) in the United States.
United Therapeutics Corporation is an American publicly traded biotechnology company and public benefit corporation listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol UTHR. It develops novel,life-extending technologies for patients in the areas of lung disease and organ manufacturing. United Therapeutics is co-headquartered in Silver Spring,Maryland and Research Triangle Park,North Carolina,with additional facilities in Magog and Bromont,Quebec;Melbourne and Jacksonville,Florida;Blacksburg,Virginia;and Manchester,New Hampshire.
Timothy M. Broas is an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands from March 19,2014,to February 13,2016.
The Society of Classical Poets is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to reviving traditional poetry. It typically publishes,online and in its annual journal,a variety of poetry that uses rhyme and meter.
Jeffrey Leiden is an American physician,scientist and businessman who is the executive chairman of Vertex Pharmaceuticals,a biotechnology company based in Boston,Massachusetts. He was initially appointed to the board of directors of the company in 2009 and was CEO and president from February 2012 to March 2020.
Steven Nathan Berk is an American lawyer and former judge. He served as an Associate Judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia from 2016 to 2021.