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- CAP Advocate of the Year Award
The CAP Advocate of the Year Award, established in 2018, recognizes outstanding accomplishments in advocacy on behalf of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) in the legislative, regulatory, and/or political arenas. It is presented to a CAP member who has made significant contributions to the CAP’s advocacy efforts and demonstrated dedication to helping achieve the CAP’s advocacy goals. The recipient will be a champion in the PathNET and PathPAC programs with involvement in: 1) advancing the CAP’s legislative and/or regulatory policy positions; 2) engaging with elected officials at the federal and/or state level, regulatory agencies, and other entities to promote such policies; and/or 3) participating in state pathology society or American Medical Association activities.
2022 Award Recipient
Eric Y. Loo, MD, FCAP
The College of American Pathologists presents Eric Y. Loo, MD, FCAP, with the 2022 CAP Advocate of the Year Award in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments in advocacy over the past years.
Dr. Loo is a member of the CAP Federal and State Affairs Committee. He serves as the New Hampshire Society of Pathology’s state issue advisor, the New Hampshire pathology representative Medicare administrative contractor to Jurisdiction K, and will assume presidency of the New Hampshire Medical Society at the end of October 2022.
In terms of his recent advocacy achievements, Dr. Loo successfully secured proficiency testing safeguards in legislation related to direct-to-consumer laboratory testing in New Hampshire, secured network adequacy assessment and a favorable reimbursement methodology for hospital-based physicians in state-based surprise billing legislation, and provided effective advocacy for several other bills which would have impacted laboratory testing in his state. At the federal level, he has provided arguments against bringing back gene patenting from a clinical laboratory perspective on the patent reform roundtables established by US Senators Richard Burr and Chris Coons and has been the only physician voice at the table.
Dr. Loo meets regularly with his members of Congress, as well as with other pathologists and other medical specialties. He is an active participant in various CAP initiatives, regularly donates to PathPAC, attends the Pathologists Leadership Summit, and is a very responsive and effective “grasstops” leader.
Dr. Loo is an assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and the Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine in New Hampshire.
2021 Award Recipient
David L. Gang, MD, FCAP
The College of American Pathologists presents David L. Gang, MD, FCAP, with the 2021 CAP Advocate of the Year Award in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments in advocacy over the past years.
Dr. Gang’s advocacy efforts have enabled pathologists to better serve patients by ensuring the financial viability of pathology practices. His most recent success includes advocating from a pathologist perspective on the congressional surprise billing legislation, which resulted in the inclusion of an arbitration process in the final legislation. The proposed 9% cuts in payment for pathology services would have been devastating. As chair of the Federal and State Affairs Committee, Dr. Gang was instrumental in organizing CAP staff and membership to fight these cuts.
Dr. Gang’s congressman, Richie Neal, is chair of the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives and has been an advocate for pathology as a result of Dr. Gang’s efforts. Rep. Neal’s active participation assisted in mitigating the proposed cuts. Dr. Gang has been an energetic lead on fundraising for Rep. Neal’s campaign and has developed a strong relationship with the congressman and his staff to further advance pathologists’ legislative interests.
Dr. Gang is a professor of pathology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School–Baystate.