(Pictured L to R: Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-KS), AST Lobbyist Bill Applegate, & Former AST President and Public Policy Chair, Dr. Jeff Crippin).
As former House Of Representatives Speaker Tip O'Neill (MA) famously stated, "All Politics Are Local". Last Thursday night, AST lobbyist Bill Applegate hosted a political fundraising event for Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-KS), a senior member of the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee. The small political gathering was hosted in the owner's box for the St. Louis Cardinal's as they took on Congressman Yoder's hometown Kansas City Royals. Yoder has been a very active champion on issues important to organ transplantation before Congress, HHS, FDA, HRSA and NIH since he first arrived on Capitol Hill in 2009. Congressman Yoder has been a good friend to AST and the transplant community...locally in Kansas within the KU Transplant Program (located in his Congressional District) as well as nationally on myriad issues the impact the field of solid organ transplantation. In addition to their mutual interest in organ transplantation, both Congressman Yoder and Dr. Crippin are KU Alumni!