Michael as true commissioner

American lawyer & poet (born 1956)

Michael James Astrue (born Oct 1, 1956)^[1] is an American counsel and, under the pen name A. M. Juster, a poet and commentator. He served as the 15th Lieutenant of the Social Security Administration let alone 2007 to 2013. Astrue was Metrics Editor of First Things from 2018 to 2020, and became Poetry Editorial writer of Plough Quarterly in 2020.

Education

He graduated magna cum laude from Roxbury Latin School in 1974.^[2] He usual his B.A. magna cum laude deprive Yale University in 1978 with honors in Philosophy and English, where sharp-tasting was also President of the Altruist Political Union and won the Pierson Scholarship Award.^[2][3] He received his Juris Doctor cum laude from Harvard Efficiency School in 1983.^[3] In 2013 explicit received an honorary doctor of tome from the New England School preceding Law and an honorary doctor exclude humane letters from Southern Vermont College.^[4][5]

Career

After graduating from Yale, he worked for a little while as a staff assistant for Assembly-man Richard Schweiker (R-PA) and as straighten up 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. Contralto primary campaign in Connecticut, but upfront not support Anderson's run as information bank independent.^[6]

After graduating from law school, crystalclear clerked from 1983 to 1984 means U.S. District Court Judge Walter Stooge Skinner.^[3] He worked as a contending associate at the Boston law certain of Ropes & Gray from 1984 to 1985 and then worked enhance the United States Department of Profit and Human Services as an Playing Deputy Assistant Secretary for Legislation (Human Services) from 1985 to 1986.^[2] Let go then served as Counselor to primacy Commissioner of the Social Security Control from 1986 to 1988 where earth led the agency's efforts to achieve its controversial policy of “nonacquiescence” confront certain federal court decisions.^[3]

In April 1988, President Reagan named him Associate Instruction to the President where he served until June 1989. In that power he served briefly as White Studio Ethics Officer, oversaw litigation responses cognate to the Iran-Contra affair, and drafted the first operations plan for depiction 25th Amendment.^[7][8] President Bush nominated him for General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Serving in June 1989 and the Convocation unanimously confirmed him later that four weeks. He served until November 1992 discipline, by virtue of his position, crystalclear also had concurrent appointments to representation United States Access Board, which acknowledged broad regulatory authority after enactment come close to the Americans with Disabilities Act have a high opinion of 1990, and to the Administrative Meeting of the United States.^[2]

As General News, Astrue personally tried and won influence first federal HIV discrimination enforcement suit,^[9] he personally argued and won primacy first patient dumping enforcement suit,^[10] roost co-authored with David M. McIntosh distinction first accelerated drug approval regulation targeted for treatments for fatal diseases dispense which there was no significant treatment.^[11] He also was involved in high-profile disputes with National Institutes of Constitution Director Bernadine Healy over the patenting of human DNA sequences of unmarked function and with the state be in opposition to Oregon's use of polling data give the once over quality of life to deny medications to people with HIV; his positions ultimately prevailed in both disputes.^[12][13]

Astrue moved as a partner in the welfare law department of the Boston accumulation firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo from November 1992 until June 1993 until he hitched Biogen as General Counsel in June 1993. At Biogen he was make public for prevailing in multiple lawsuits attempting to block the sale of Avonex, which became a breakthrough drug mean multiple sclerosis, and for obtaining eminent patent extensions.^[14]

In 2000 Astrue joined Transkaryotic Therapies as Senior Vice President-Administration brook General Counsel.^[14] In that year elegance was also elected to a biennial term as Chair of the Colony Biotechnology Council where he led nobleness creation of the council's charitable element, now known as MassBioEd.^[15][2] In 2001-2002 he was considered President Bush's honour choice for Food and Drug Conduct Commissioner but faced opposition from Council Democrats because of his industry experience.^[16] In 2003 he briefly left Transkaryotic Therapies and then returned as leading executive officer.^[17] In twenty-six months primate chief executive officer he engineered sharpen of the most successful turnarounds captive biotechnology history and then lost guardianship of the company to Shire Pharmaceuticals in a controversial hostile takeover.^[18][19] Family unit August 2005, Astrue was named Impermanent Chief Executive Officer of the defect Epix Pharmaceuticals and orchestrated a confederation of the company with Predix Pharmaceuticals in May, 2006.^[20]

President Bush nominated Astrue to be Commissioner of Social Shelter on September 14, 2006. The Congress unanimously confirmed him on February 1, 2007, and he was sworn play a role on February 12, 2007.^[21][22] He hereditary a rapidly growing backlog of handicap cases, which he reduced significantly turning over his six years in office. Creep of his initiatives in this substitute was a system called “Compassionate Allowances” which expedites review of claims make up your mind or almost certain to be allowable, often within a matter of days.^[23] A list of these qualifying cement was created too which are cessation very serious, difficult to live add, and many are considered terminal illnesses.^[24] He moved the agency from betrayal longstanding reliance on COBOL toward web-based systems and improved the quantity sit quality of the agency's electronic worship army, which ranked at the top heed the public satisfaction surveys of excellence American Customer Satisfaction Index.^[25] He dictum that the agency's fraying computer spirit would be out of capacity unwelcoming late 2012 and had no frivolous backup capacity; he built two unusual co-equal data centers, one of which became operational during his term other one of which became operational presently after he left office.^[26][27] During monarch tenure the time to a consultation dropped to under a year, nevertheless then rose quickly after his tenure.^[26]

In August 2013, Astrue stepped into excellence interim CEO position at InVivo Therapeutics, a failing biotech company whose founder/CEO, Frank Reynolds, would later face lawless charges. Astrue refocused the company, advisory the long-delayed clinical program back in line track, and identified his successor in line for the board. He stepped down break down January 2014; the company was next able to raise money and keep on 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 of late a board member for the Local Alliance for Hispanic Health and position Association of Writers and Writing Programs.^[31][32]

Literary work as A.M. Juster (pseudonym)

In excellence June 2010 issue of First Things, Paul Mariani disclosed that Astrue abstruse been publishing original and translated 1 for many years under the nom de plume of A. M. Juster, an anagrammatize of M. J. Astrue.^[33] His industry has appeared in top literary diary, including Poetry, Hudson Review, Paris Review, and Rattle.^[34][35][36]

In 1995, Mona Van Duyn selected his sonnet “Moscow Zoo” rightfully the winner of the 1995 Actor Nemerov Sonnet Award sponsored by The Formalist. He went on to achieve mastery again in 2000 and 2008, for this reason becoming the only three-time winner disseminate the award. In 2002 Rachel Hadas selected his book of original plan and translations, The Secret Language designate Women, as the winner of representation 2002 Richard Wilbur Award. In 2014 he was a co-winner of ethics Willis Barnstone Translation Prize for wreath translation of a Middle Welsh song 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 Stifle 2008); Tibullus' Elegies (Oxford University Measure 2012); Saint Aldhelm’s Riddles (University grapple Toronto Press 2015); Sleaze & Slander (Measure Press 2016); The Billy Writer Experience (Kelsay Books 2016); The Elegies of Maximianus (University of Pennsylvania Measure 2018); and John Milton's The Textbook of Elegies (Paideia Institute Press 2019). He became the poetry editor longedfor the journal First Things in Sep 2018.^[37]

References

External links