James D. Schaub is Director of the Office of Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis at the United States Department of Agriculture. He leads a comprehensive program for risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis focusing on human health and safety, animal diseases, plant diseases, invasive species, and environmental health. As leader of the Office of Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis, he is responsible for integrating science and economics. Dr. Schaub serves on the Department’s Homeland Security Group charged with protection of the food supply and agricultural production. He is vice-chair of USDA’s Food Safety Risk Assessment Committee, a member of the Advisory Committee for the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, and serves on the Methyl Bromide Technical Options Committee of the United Nations Environment Program. From 1991 to 2001, he was a senior economist in the Office of the Chief Economist of USDA where his work involved food safety, livestock markets, and trade. From 1979 to 1991, Dr. Schaub was a research economist with USDA’s Economic Research Service where his work focused on oilseed markets and trade policy. He received his Ph.D. in economics from North Carolina State University.