Avik Roy (/ˈoʊvɪk ˈrɔɪ/; Bengali: অভীক রায়) is an American conservative commentator and activist.
Avik Roy | |
|---|---|
 Roy at a discussion for New America in 2017 | |
| Born | |
| Other names | Avik S. A. Roy |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale School of Medicine |
| Occupations |
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Education and early career
Roy was born in Rochester, Michigan, to Indian immigrant parents, and attended high school in Beverly Hills, Michigan and San Antonio, Texas.[1] In his senior year he was named a first team member of the 1990 USA Today All-USA High School Academic Team, awarded to the twenty best performing academic students in the country.[2] In his college years, Roy studied molecular biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[3] In 1993, during Roy's term as a writer for the MIT student publication Counterpoint, he was unsuccessfully sued for defamation by Trinidadian Africana studies professor Tony Martin, after publishing an article detailing past controversies surrounding Martin.[4][5] Roy then attended the Yale School of Medicine. Roy was active politically at Yale, where he served as the chairman for the Conservative Party of the Yale Political Union.[2]
Between 2001 and 2004, Roy worked as an analyst and portfolio manager at investment firm Bain Capital,[2][6] later working in a similar position for JPMorgan Chase, which he left to found a healthcare-focused hedge fund.[7][8] In 2009, Roy was working as the managing partner at the New York-based hedge fund Mymensingh Partners,[9] later working for the securities firm Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co., Inc.[10] In early 2012, Roy founded Roy Healthcare Research, an investment research firm located in New York.[2][11]
Commentary and activism
In March 2009, Roy began writing The Apothecary, a personal blog focusing on healthcare policy, particularly his opposition to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. He was able to devote more time to the blog from 2010 onward,[12] reaching a wider audience in 2010 when National Review Online featured his posts as a part of their health-care focused blog, Critical Condition, and their policy-focused blog, The Agenda, where he worked with Reihan Salam and Josh Barro.[13] In February 2011, Roy's blog was officially picked up by Forbes as an integrated blog featured on their website.[2][14] In January 2014, Roy was appointed the opinion editor for Forbes.[2]
Roy became a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute in 2011.[3] In 2013 Roy published the book How Medicaid Fails the Poor, a work arguing that Medicaid produces poor health outcomes and limited access to physician care.[15] In 2014, he authored a proposal for health care reform through the Manhattan Institute, entitled Transcending Obamacare: A Patient-Centered Plan for Near-Universal Coverage and Permanent Fiscal Solvency.[16] This was elaborated on in his third publication, The Case Against Obamacare (2014).[17]
In 2016, Roy co-founded the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, a think tank.[18][19] Roy has written for Forbes, National Review, and other outlets.[20][21] He has appeared on TV such as Fox News, Fox Business, MSNBC, CNBC and Bloomberg Television.[2] He has appeared on PBS's Newshour and on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher.
Republican advisor
In 2012, Roy was health care policy advisor to the Mitt Romney presidential campaign.[2] In the 2016 Republican primary, Roy was initially senior advisor to former Texas governor Rick Perry's 2016 presidential campaign.[22][23] In September 2015, Perry suspended his presidential campaign. Shortly thereafter, Roy joined the 2016 presidential campaign of Marco Rubio as an advisor.[24]
Roy has been on the Board of Advisors for the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation which he joined in 2014,[25] and Concerned Veterans for America.[26]
In July 2016, as quoted in a Vox article, Roy said that the Republican Party had "lost its right to govern, because it is driven by white nationalism rather than a true commitment to equality for all Americans."[27]
