Dr. Edwin Flores is currently the first vice-president of the Board of Trustees of the Dallas Independent School District, the most improved urban public school district in the State of Texas. Well-known as a conservative Republican, Dr. Flores is a driving force behind common sense, conservative policies that have made Dallas ISD the most talked about school district in Texas. Governor Abbott has pointed to the changes in Dallas ISD as the model to follow for school reform efforts statewide. Included in those common sense, conservative changes are: (1) evaluating teachers based, in part, on student outcomes and paying them based on their performance, (2) engaging in market competition by offering new school options for students and families, (3) expanding college and career readiness programs, and (4) turning around our lowest performance schools by paying our best teachers to teach at those schools. These practical, common sense, conservative solutions are the driving force improvements that, previously, were thought to be impossible. Dr. Flores was born and reared in Mexico City, Mexico, and is fully bilingual and bicultural. Dr. Flores was raised Roman Catholic by his Mexican father and American mother along with his three brothers. After completing high school at the American School in Mexico City, Dr. Flores earned his B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin and his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in Molecular Immunology at the age of 26. By the age of 30, Dr. Flores had also earned his law degree from The University of Texas School of Law. Dr. Flores is the managing partner and founder of the Intellectual Property law firm of Chalker Flores LLP, in Dallas-Fort Worth, where he focuses his practice on biotechnology patent law. For two consecutive years, Dr. Flores was selected by D Magazine as one of the “Best Lawyers in Dallas” for his work as an intellectual property attorney. Dr. Flores currently serves, or has served on, a number of local and national community boards including: SMU Tower Center, Mary Crowley Cancer Research Center, Dallas Assembly, Medical City Hospital Dallas community board, Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, AIPAC National Council, International Leadership of Texas Charter School, Texas Leadership Forum, Licensing Executives Society, Teach for America Dallas-Fort Worth, KIPP-DFW, SMU Tate Lecture Series, Good Shepherd Episcopal School, Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas Historical Society, and Southwestern Medical Foundation. Last year, Gov. Abbott appointed Dr. Flores to the Texas School Safety Center Board. From 2005 to 2008, Dr. Flores was appointed to the Advisory Council of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). From 2008 to 2012, Dr. Flores was also appointed to the prestigious Council of Councils of the NIH. Dr. Flores and his wife Jesica (also an attorney) have two children, a college graduate and a senior in college.