John E. Osborn

BA 1979
Economics
History

After graduation from The University of Iowa, John E. Osborn worked on budget policy issues for the U.S. Congress.  He earned a law degree from the University of Virginia and an MA in international studies from Johns Hopkins University.  For many years, Osborn has alternated work in the public sector with work in private business.  He was a special assistant in the U.S. Department of State and, after leaving government in 1992, he worked in the  pharmaceutical industry.  His legal work has earned him a place as one of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America.  His interest in public policy and international affairs has led him to terms as Eisenhower Fellow to Northern Ireland and visiting scholar in East European Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.  After his retirement from the biopharmaceutical company Cephalon (where he was Executive Vice President and General Counsel), Osborn accepted an appointment as a visiting fellow with the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford.  He also will serve as an advisor on life sciences regulatory and compliance matters to the international consulting firm McKinsey & Company, Inc.  Throughout his career, he has kept close ties to The University of Iowa and has served on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.