NEW YORK, Feb. 26, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Manhattan Institute is pleased to announce that former Oklahoma Senator Tom A. Coburn, M.D., will be joining MI's Project FDA. Dr. Coburn recently retired from the U.S. Senate after serving two terms from 2005–2015.
In the Senate, Dr. Coburn was the ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security and also served on the committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and Intelligence.
From 1995–2001, Dr. Coburn represented Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. A family physician, Coburn was a Member of the Committee on Commerce where he sat on the subcommittees on Health & Environment as vice-chairman, Energy & Power, and Oversight and Investigations.
Near the end of 2001, after the completion of his third congressional term, Coburn was selected co-chair of the President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. A longtime advocate of FDA reform, Dr. Coburn introduced the "Promoting Accountability, Transparency, Innovation, Efficiency, and Timeliness at FDA" act with Senator Richard Burr in 2012. Dr. Coburn continued to see patients while he served in Congress.
Paul Howard, director of the Manhattan Institute's Center for Medical Progress, said, "Dr. Coburn understands the need for FDA reform from the perspective of a physician, a legislator, and a patient. We are very excited for him to bring his expertise, experience, and passion to Project FDA."
Dr. Coburn is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and University of Oklahoma Medical School. His specializations are family medicine, obstetrics, and allergy. He is the co-author of The Debt Bomb: A Bold Plan to Stop Washington from Bankrupting America (Thomas Nelson, 2012).
Click here for more information on the Manhattan Institute's Project FDA.