By Hrant J., DPC Executive Director<\/p>\n

With the creation of the DPC Education Center, it became increasingly apparent that Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) needed to do some internal realignment of its staff. Our goals for this process were to ensure:<\/p>\n

1) we maximize DPC\u2019s limited resources,
\n2) we secure the sustainability of the DPC Education Center, and
\n3) we continue to prioritize our advocacy efforts and the work we do to elevate the patient voice with policy makers.<\/p>\n

As a result, I am pleased to announce that DPC has hired a Government Affairs Director. Since his departure from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation is not yet public, look for more information from DPC in the weeks ahead. What I can tell you is that, in addition to his multiple advanced degrees, he brings extensive public policy experience from his tenures at some of the most powerful consumer organizations in the country. As a result, he will spearhead our federal legislative and regulatory efforts.<\/p>\n

I am also pleased to announce the promotion of Stephen Campbell to Government Affairs Manager. Stephen has worked at DPC for nearly a year: organizing our patient fly-ins; blogging about his family\u2019s experience with dialysis; writing newsletter articles and letters to the Administration; as well as participating in multiple congressional meetings. His previous administrative responsibilities are being removed from his current job description in order to allow Stephen to also take the lead in managing our grassroots program as well as spearheading our state advocacy efforts.<\/p>\n

Finally, we are excited to announce the addition of Jill Kennedy to our staff as the new Director of Development & Communications. In addition to a Master\u2019s Degree in Non-profit Management, Jill brings extensive fundraising experience, which will be invaluable in assisting our members with organizing local events for the DPC Education Center to help raise awareness and resources to advance our mission. Jill previously worked as a paramedic helping to transport patients to dialysis before she changed careers, which is one of the main reasons she wanted to join our team to help improve dialysis patient quality of life. Jill started to work at DPC earlier this week.<\/p>\n

I hope you are equally excited about all of the changes at DPC, and encourage you to contact me at\u00a0hjamgochian@dialysispatients.org<\/a>\u00a0if you have any questions.<\/p>\n<\/div>