(April 30, 2007, WASHINGTON, DC) – The American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA) Board of Directors has announced the election of Elizabeth Carder-Thompson as President-Elect Designate/Treasurer for 2007-2008, effective after the Annual Meeting in June 2007. Ms. Carder-Thompson is a Washington, D.C.-based partner in the Health Care Practice of Reed Smith LLP, one of the 15 largest law firms in the world. She has been active in AHLA for over 25 years, most recently serving as Chair of its Membership Committee, as well as chairing its 2007 Life Sciences Law Institute in San Francisco and, before that, its annual Fraud and Compliance Forum.
As President-Elect Designate/Treasurer, Ms. Carder-Thompson will be second in line to lead the nearly 10,000-member national organization. She will chair AHLA’s Finance Committee beginning June 2007, and serve as President-Elect and Chair of its Program Committee beginning June 2008. Her one-year term as President of the organization will begin in June 2009, after which she will remain a member of the Board of Directors as Immediate Past President until June 2011.
“We are extremely proud of Elizabeth,” said Carol Loepere, Reed Smith’s Health Care Practice Group Leader. “This achievement demonstrates the high regard the nation's leading health care lawyers have for her and her accomplishments and contributions to the practice of health care law and this prestigious organization”
A 1975 graduate of Brown University, and a 1978 graduate of the William & Mary School of Law, Ms. Carder-Thompson represents a wide variety of health care providers, suppliers, and manufacturers, including those in the pharmaceutical, device, and other life sciences fields. She counsels these entities in the areas of reimbursement, fraud and abuse compliance, and regulatory issues, primarily involving Medicare, Medicaid, and third-party payors. In the area of fraud and abuse, she provides counseling, transactional advice, and audit, investigation, and enforcement representation.
“I am excited to have the opportunity of beginning the process of succession to AHLA’s top leadership role,” said Ms. Carder-Thompson. “I look forward to the next two years of involvement in the organization’s financial and program management that will culminate in 2009, when I become President. AHLA plays a critical role in providing cutting edge programming, information, and dialogue on health care law, as well as in providing public interest materials on health care issues. I relish having these challenging new service responsibilities while I am preparing for the key role of guiding and shaping the direction of AHLA two years from now.”
Ms. Carder-Thompson will be the third Reed Smith attorney to serve as AHLA’s President. Thomas C. Fox and Eugene Tillman, both partners in the firm’s Health Care Practice in Washington, D.C., have each previously served the organization in this elected capacity. Mr. Fox was president of AHLA’s predecessor organization, the National Health Lawyers Association (NHLA), from 1983-1984. Mr. Tillman oversaw the merger of NHLA with the American Association of Hospital Attorneys, during his term as president in 1996-1997.
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About Reed Smith
Reed Smith is one of the 15 largest law firms in the world, with more than 1,500 lawyers in 21 offices throughout the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international businesses from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises. Its attorneys provide litigation services in multi-jurisdictional matters and other high stake disputes, deliver regulatory counsel, and execute the full range of strategic domestic and cross-border transactions. Reed Smith is a preeminent advisor to industries including financial services, life sciences, health care, advertising and media, shipping, international trade and commodities, real estate, manufacturing. For more information, visit reedsmith.com.
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About AHLA
The American Health Lawyers Association is the nation's largest nonpartisan 501(c)(3) educational organization devoted to legal issues in the healthcare field. The Association's nearly 10,000 active members practice in law firms, government, in-house settings, and academia. Members represent the entire spectrum of the health industry: drug, device, and life sciences entities, physicians, hospitals and health systems, health insurers, managed care organizations, nursing facilities, home care providers, and consumers. Health Lawyers provides in-person and "distance learning" educational programs, an annual conference, an award winning Web site, public interest colloquiums and other activities, books, practice guides, monographs, the monthly Health Law Digest and Health Lawyers News, Health and Life Sciences Law Daily, Health Lawyers Weekly, and the Journal of Health and Life Sciences Law, as well as fifteen Practice Groups that focus on specific areas of health law or special employment settings.