Speaker biographies

Roger Bate is a resident fellow at AEI who researches aid policy in Africa and the developing world, and evaluates the performance and effectiveness of USAID, the World Bank, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, nongovernmental organizations, as well as other aid organizations and development policy initiatives. He writes extensively on topics such as health policy and endemic diseases (malaria, HIV/AIDS) in developing countries; water policy; international environmental and health agreements (industrial chemicals, climate change, and water); and genetically modified organisms and pesticide policy. Mr. Bate’s writings have appeared in, among others, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and Economic Affairs, and he regularly contributes to AEI's Environmental Policy Outlook and Health Policy Outlook series. Before joining AEI, Mr. Bate founded the environmental unit at the Institute of Economic Affairs in 1993 and co-founded the European Science and Environment Forum. He has also served as both a director and a fellow at the International Policy Network in the United Kingdom.

Senator Tom Coburn was elected to the U.S. Senate on November 2, 2004. Coburn's priorities in the Senate include reducing wasteful spending, balancing the budget, improving health-care access and affordability, protecting the sanctity of all human life (including the unborn), and representing traditional, Oklahoma values. As a citizen legislator, Coburn has pledged to serve no more than two terms in the Senate, after which time he will resume caring for patients as a practicing physician. He is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; the Indian Affairs Committee; and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Prior to his election to the Senate, Dr. Coburn represented Oklahoma's Second Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 1995 through 2001. He was first elected in 1994, then re-elected in 1996 and 1998, becoming the first Republican to hold the seat for consecutive terms. During his tenure in the House, Dr. Coburn wrote and passed far-reaching legislation, including laws to expand seniors' health-care options, to protect access to home health care in rural areas, and to allow Americans to access cheaper medications from Canada and other nations. Dr. Coburn also wrote a law intended to prevent AIDS in babies. The Wall Street Journal said about the law, "In 10 long years of AIDS politics and funding, this is actually the first legislation to pass in this country that will rescue babies." In addition, he wrote a law to renew and reform federal AIDS care programs. In 2002, President George W. Bush chose Dr. Coburn to serve as co-chairman of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.

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