USA TODAY OPINION BOARD OF CONTRIBUTORS

Jerome Adams, MD, was the 20th U.S. surgeon general and served as a member of the President's Coronavirus Task Force. He is a presidential fellow and executive director of Health Equity Initiatives at Purdue University, where he also is a distinguished professor of practice in the departments of Pharmacy Practice and Public Health. Before joining the Trump administration, Adams, a licensed anesthesiologist with a master’s degree in public health, ran the Indiana State Department of Health.

Ross K. Baker is professor of political science at New Jersey's Rutgers University, specializing in politics, Congress and presidential history. Baker was senior adviser to Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., in 2000 and to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in 2004. He was also a Scholar-in-Residence in the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. He has been a Fulbright Lecturer at the Swedish Institute of International Relations in Stockholm, a Visiting Professor at Haverford College and a Visiting Professor at the University of Leipzig (Germany). He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and is the author of several books, including "House & Senate" and "Strangers on a Hill." @Rosbake1

Kurt Bardella is a political commentator and the creator/publisher of a country music media company, "The Morning Hangover." From 2009 to 2013, Bardella was the spokesperson and senior adviser for Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Before that, he was press secretary to Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and communications director for Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif. He also served as a spokesman for Breitbart News and the Daily Caller. In 2016, Bardella left the Republican Party and joined the Democratic Party. He is a contributor to MSNBC and NBC NEWS THINK. @KurtBardella

James Bovard is an investigative journalist specializing in politics, civil liberties, government waste and fraud. His articles have spurred controversy and denunciations from Cabinet secretaries, agency chiefs and the FBI. He has exposed federal abuses in articles for publications ranging from Playboy to Reader’s Digest, as well as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. His work has won awards from the Free Press Association, the Center for Independent Thought and the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund. He is the author of 10 books, including "Public Policy Hooligan," "Attention Deficit Democracy," "Bush Betrayal" and "Terrorism and Tyranny." @jimbovard

Rachel Bovard is the senior director of policy at the Conservative Partnership Institute. She has served in both the House and Senate in various roles, including as legislative director for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and as policy director for the Senate Steering Committee under the chairmanships of Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. In 2013, she was named one of National Journal’s Most Influential Women in Washington under 35. Along with former Sen. Jim DeMint, S.C., she is the co-author of "Conservative: Knowing What to Keep."

Rachel earned her undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Grove City College in Pennsylvania and her master's from George Washington University. @rachelbovard

Donna Brazile is an ABC News contributor, a veteran political strategist, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, and the King Endowed Chair in Public Policy at Howard University. She previously served as interim Chair of the Democratic National Committee and of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute. She managed the Gore campaign in 2000 and has lectured at more than 225 colleges and universities on race, diversity, women, leadership and restoring civility in politics. Brazile is the author of several books, including the New York Times’ bestseller "Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House." @DonnaBrazile

Ellis Cose is the author of 10 books on issues of national and international concern. They include the best-selling "The Rage of a Privileged Class," "The Best Defense" (a novel) and a definitive history of the ACLU. Cose has served as a columnist and contributing editor of Newsweek magazine, as editorial page chief for the New York Daily News, as a fellow at the National Research Council/National Academy of Science, and as a contributor and columnist for numerous major publications. He was the inaugural writer in residence of the American Civil Liberties Union and has been a fellow at the Gannett Center for Media Studies at Columbia University and the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, a senior fellow and director of energy policy studies at the Joint Center for Political Studies, and a consultant to the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. @EllisCose

James Alan Fox is the Lipman Family Professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy at Northeastern University in Boston. He has published 18 books, including "Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder" and "The Will to Kill: Making Sense of Senseless Murder," as well as dozens of journal and magazine articles, and hundreds of freelance columns in newspapers around the country, primarily in the areas of mass shootings, serial murder, school and campus violence, workplace violence, intimate partner homicide and capital punishment. He is one of the principals in the ongoing Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University Mass Killing Database project. @jamesalanfox

Sally Kohn is a writer, activist and television commentator, and the author of "The Opposite Of Hate: A Field Guide To Repairing Our Humanity."  A former community organizer, Fox News and CNN commentator, Sally's three TED Talks have been viewed over 6 million times, and she is a popular keynote speaker at campuses and corporate events worldwide. Sally is also a sought-after media and public speaking coach and strategist for candidates, nonprofit organizations and forward-looking businesses. @sallykohn

Tom Krattenmaker is a writer specializing in religion and values in public life, and the communications director at Yale Divinity School. A former news reporter for the Associated Press and Orange County Register, Krattenmaker has a Master of Liberal Arts degree in Religion in Public Life from the University of Pennsylvania and is the author of three award-winning books: "Onward Christian Athletes," "The Evangelicals You Don't Know," and "Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower," which was named one of the top two religion books of 2016 by the Religion News Association. His numerous media appearances include National Public Radio, The Nation, Fox News, ESPN, and the documentary "Lord Save Us From Your Followers." @tkrattenmaker

Thomas Ken Lew, MD, is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and an attending physician of Hospital Medicine at Stanford Health Care – ValleyCare. Born in Albany, Oregon, he is a graduate of Stanford University and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In addition to his work caring for acutely ill, hospitalized patients, he is involved in clinical research investigating treatments for the COVID-19 disease.

His clinical interests include health equity, medical education, and the intersection of medicine and media. He also enjoys playing tennis, singing poorly but loudly and cooking mediocre foods.  @ThomasLewMD

Joanne Lipman is the inaugural Distinguished Journalism Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, a CNBC on-air contributor and author of the No. 1 bestseller "That's What She Said: What Men and Women Need to Know About Working Together." Lipman, the former chief content officer of Gannett and editor-in-chief of USA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network, oversaw more than 3,000 journalists and led the organization to three Pulitzer prizes. She was the first woman to be deputy managing editor at The Wall Street Journal, supervising coverage that won three Pulitzers. She later was founding editor-in-chief of Conde Nast Portfolio magazine, which won Loeb and National Magazine Awards. @joannelipman

Stewart D. McLaurin is president of the White House Historical Association, a private nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961 to privately fund maintaining the museum standard of the White House and to provide publications and programs on White House history. Stewart has held leadership roles with national non-profit and higher education organizations such as the American Red Cross, Georgetown University, and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. He serves on the board of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, Metropolitan Club Preservation Foundation, and National Trust of Scotland, USA Foundation.

Barbara McQuade is a professor of practice at the University of Michigan Law School, where she focuses on criminal law, national security and data privacy. She is also a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. McQuade was the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan from 2010 to 2017.  During the Obama administration, she served as vice chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee and co-chaired its Terrorism and National Security Subcommittee. McQuade was an assistant U.S. attorney in Detroit from 1998 to 2010, focusing on national security matters. @BarbMcQuade

Michael Medved hosts a daily three-hour radio talk show heard on stations across the country. An honors graduate of Yale (with departmental honors in American History), he also attended Yale Law School before working for several years as a political speechwriter and consultant. He has served as chief film critic of the New York Post and was the longtime co-host of "Sneak Previews," the movie review program on PBS. As an active leader in the Jewish community, he was president of an Orthodox synagogue and co-founder of a Jewish day school. The most recent of his 14 nonfiction books, "God's Hand on America: Divine Providence in the Modern Era," became a best-seller at the end of 2019. @MedvedSHOW

Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a nationally syndicated columnist with The Washington Post Writers Group, columnist for The Daily Beast and Angelus News, contributor to RT America and host of the podcast "Navarrette Nation.” A former contributor to National Public Radio, he has hosted radio shows in Phoenix, Dallas, Fresno, Los Angeles and San Diego. He has also contributed to the op-ed pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. A graduate of Harvard College and John F. Kennedy School of Government, he is the author of "A Darker Shade of Crimson: Odyssey of a Harvard Chicano.” He has worked for The Arizona Republic,The Dallas Morning News and The San Diego Union-Tribune, and judged the Pulitzer Prizes in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017. @RubenNavarrette

Michael O'Hanlon is a senior fellow and director of research in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, where he also leads the Security and Strategy Team and the Africa Security Initiative. He also teaches at Columbia and Georgetown universities. O’Hanlon previously worked at the Congressional Budget Office for five years. He studied physics in college at Princeton, where he later received his Ph.D. in public and international affairs, after two years in the Peace Corps in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was also on the CIA External Advisory Board from 2011-12.  O’Hanlon’s recent books include "The Senkaku Paradox: Risking Great Power War over Small Stakes" and "The Future of Land Warfare." In 2020, he published "Defense 101," a primer and textbook on the military. @MichaelEOHanlon

Cindy L. Otis is a cybersecurity expert specializing in disinformation analysis, information warfare and election security. Prior to joining the private sector, she spent a decade as a CIA officer, serving as an intelligence analyst, briefer and manager. Her regional expertise includes Europe and the Middle East. Otis graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in international politics and has a masters degree from Boston University in international relations. She is the author of “True or False: A CIA Analyst’s Guide to Spotting Fake News.”  @CindyOtis_

Ken Paulson, a journalist and lawyer, is the director of the Free Speech Center and a professor of media at Middle Tennessee State University. A music journalist, he is host of "The Songwriters," seen on PBS affiliates nationwide, and founder of Americana One, a radio, podcast and online platform for Americana music. Paulson was the editor of USA TODAY from 2004 to 2009. He is also a former president of the Newseum and former president and CEO of the First Amendment Center. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and a law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law. @kenpaulson1

Steven Petrow is an award-winning columnist, author and podcast host specializing in civility, manners, aging and health. His 2019 TED Talk (“3 Ways to Practice Civility”) has been viewed more than 1.6 million times and translated into 13 languages. Previously, he wrote The New York Times’ "Civil Behavior" advice column. His journalism has been published in The Washington Post, Time, The Atlantic, Salon, the Daily Beast, the Los Angeles Times and The Advocate. Petrow is a regular guest on NPR’s “All Things Considered Weekend” and many TV outlets. He’s the author/editor of a dozen books, including “Steven Petrow’s Complete Gay & Lesbian Manners: The Definitive Guide to LGBT Life,” “The Lost Hamptons,” “The New Gay Wedding: A Practical Primer,” and “Stupid Things I Won’t Do When I’m Old.”  @stevenpetrow

Kirsten Powers writes on politics, faith and culture. She is a CNN senior political analyst and regularly appears on "Anderson Cooper 360°," "CNN Tonight with Don Lemon" and "The Lead with Jake Tapper." Powers previously was a columnist for the Daily Beast, American Prospect Online and the New York Post. The Columbia Journalism Review praised her as “an outspoken liberal journalist” in a sea of opposition at Fox News, where she previously served as a political analyst. Before her career in journalism, Powers was a political appointee in the Clinton administration and worked Democratic politics in New York. @KirstenPowers

Raul A. Reyes is an attorney, journalist and television commentator in New York City. He has written for The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Texas Monthly, HuffPost and The Hill. A contributor to CNN Opinion and NBC Latino, he has appeared on the "Today" show, "NBC Nightly News," MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, PBS, BBC and Headline News. A former co-host of MSNBC Shift, Reyes has covered events from the border to the boardroom, from the red carpet to the White House. He is a graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Law School. @RaulAReyes

Glenn Harlan Reynolds is the Beauchamp Brogan Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee, where he teaches courses ranging from Constitutional Law and Administrative Law to Firearms Law and Internet Law. Reynolds has written for publications ranging from the Columbia Law Review and the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, to The Atlantic, Road & Track, Popular Mechanics and URB. A graduate of Yale Law School, he has practiced law in Washington D.C., served as executive chairman of the National Space Society and on the board of the Foresight Institute.  His most recent book is "The Social Media Upheaval."

James S. Robbins is an award-winning author, political commentator and professor with expertise in national security, foreign and military affairs, and American politics. He has taught at the National Defense University and the Marine Corps University and served as a special assistant in the office of the secretary of Defense in the George W. Bush administration. He is the best-selling author of "Erasing America: Losing Our Future by Destroying Our Past," "This Time We Win: Revisiting the Tet Offensive," "The Real Custer: From Boy General to Tragic Hero" and "Last in Their Class: Custer, Pickett and the Goats of West Point." @James_Robbins

David Rothkopf is the author of numerous books and articles on foreign policy, national security and politics. Books include "Traitor: A History of American Betrayal from Benedict Arnold to Donald Trump," "Great Questions of Tomorrow," "National Insecurity," "Power, Inc.," "Superclass" and "Running the World."  He is host of the Deep State Radio podcast and was formerly CEO and editor of Foreign Policy magazine. He has taught international affairs at Columbia, Georgetown and Johns Hopkins/SAIS and served as deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Policy and as acting undersecretary of Commerce for international trade in the Clinton administration. @djrothkopf 

Njeri Mathis Rutledge is an attorney and professor of law at South Texas College of Law Houston, specializing in criminal law and procedure, forensic evidence and legal writing.  A Tennessee native, Rutledge graduated from Spelman College and Harvard Law School, where she served as the technical editor for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.  She has served as an associate municipal court judge for over 10 years. She has testified before the Judicial Proceedings Panel on Sexual Assault in the Military and has been published in Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy, among others.  Her legal scholarship focuses on constitutional law, criminal law, domestic violence, crime victim compensation and race. @NjeriRutledge

Christian Schneider is the author of the humorous novel “1916: The Blog” and the director of Editorial Services at the Cato Institute. He is a former staff columnist at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and has written for USA TODAY, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, The Dispatch and The Bulwark, among others. Schneider worked in the Wisconsin State Legislature for nearly a decade, running numerous high-profile state campaigns. He has a master’s degree in political science from Marquette University and lives in Madison, Wisconsin. @Schneider_CM

Marc Siegel, M.D., is a clinical professor of medicine, medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Health and a medical correspondent for Fox News, as well as a practicing internist. A native New Yorker, he is a graduate of Brown University and the State University of New York-Buffalo School of Medicine. Siegel has published several books on influenza, infectious outbreaks and the fear epidemic. He is the author of "The Inner Pulse: Unlocking the Secret Code of Sickness and Health," and is completing a novel about a bioengineered virus. He was consulted by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee regarding the anthrax mailings in 2002. @drmarcsiegel

Michael J. Stern is a former state and federal prosecutor. During 25 years with the U.S. Department of Justice in Detroit and Los Angeles, he prosecuted some of its most significant cases, including Operation Mountain Express, which still appears on the Special Operations Division website as an example of its most successful prosecutions. His expertise is in wiretap investigations, use of cooperating witnesses and trial litigation. Shortly before leaving the department, in 2014, Stern led the FBI wiretap investigation that indicted the West Coast leader of Israeli organized crime. He represented indigent defendants between 2015 and 2017. @MichaelJStern1

Larry Strauss is an award-winning high school teacher and a Los Angeles champion basketball coach whose fifth novel, "Light Man," will be published Oct. 1. He is the author of numerous nonfiction titles, including the essay collection "Students First and Other Lies," and his novel "Now's the Time" is now an Earphones Award-winning audiobook. His short fiction has appeared in Streetlight, Extract(s) and elsewhere. He has also written for The Guardian, Huffington Post and Ambassador, the inflight magazine of the defunct Trans World Airlines. If you grew up in the 1980s, you might have seen some of the episodes he wrote for the first-generation "Transformers" cartoons. @LarryStrauss

Steven Strauss is a Lecturer and John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs & Co. Visiting Professor at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, teaching courses on innovation, leadership, strategy and urban economic development. Strauss has worked with governments and corporations in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. He was selected for the Silicon Alley 100 for his work on economic development with New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s administration. Strauss was a 2012 Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow at Harvard University and has a Ph.D. in Management from Yale University. @Steven_Strauss

Kristin Clark Taylor is an author, editor and journalist. Her writing has appeared in major publications including USA TODAY, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, The Detroit Free Press and many others. A former White House communications strategist, Taylor served as White House director of media relations under President George H.W. Bush, the first African American woman to ever hold the post. She is also a member of USA TODAY’s original creation and launch team, where she worked on the newspaper’s original opinion page staff. Taylor holds an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Michigan State University and a Distinguished Alumni award from the school’s College of Arts and Letters. [email protected]

Stacy Torres is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of California, San Francisco, where she specializes in gender, health, family, urban communities and the life course. She is writing a book about urban aging for the University of California Press. Her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, The New York Times, CalMatters and USA TODAY. She holds a Ph.D. from New York University, an MFA in Writing from Columbia University and a bachelor's in Comparative Literature from Fordham University. She is a proud first-generation college graduate, born and raised in New York City.

Katrina Trinko is editor-in-chief of The Daily Signal, the news publication of The Heritage Foundation, and co-host of “The Daily Signal” podcast. Previously, she was a reporter for National Review and held fellowships at USA TODAY’s editorial page and The Claremont Institute. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Post, The Washington Times and Fox News. A California native, Trinko holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California. @KatrinaTrinko

Chris Truax is an appellate lawyer based in California and a recognized expert in internet privacy issues and constitutional law. He is a legal adviser and frequent spokesman for Republicans for the Rule of Law as well as the founder and CEO of CertifiedVoter.com, the first system designed to deter foreign political interference in American social media. Truax earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California-Santa Barbara and his law degree from the University of Notre Dame Law School. He also holds an LL.M. from the University of Cambridge.

Jonathan Turley holds the Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He has served as counsel in some of the most notable cases in the last two decades, representing reporters, whistle-blowers, military personnel and a wide range of other clients. This representation extends to all three branches of government, including the House of Representatives, former attorneys general and federal judges. Turley is a frequent witness before the House and Senate. He is a nationally recognized legal commentator and runs an award-winning legal blog. Turley received his B.A. at the University of Chicago and his law degree at Northwestern University. @JonathanTurley

Rachel Vindman is a writer and podcast host who was thrust into the spotlight when Donald Trump and some lawmakers attacked her family as her husband, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, testified during the president’s first impeachment trial. Now an activist and advocate for suburban women and a frequent guest on cable news, Vindman is the host of “The Suburban Women Problem” podcast.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Board of Contributors for USA TODAY Opinion