On Friday, Dec. 1, the Department of Biomedical Engineering will host seminar speaker Milan Yager, executive director of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

The seminar will take place in Gearhart Hall Room 26 from 11:50 a.m. to 12:40 p.m.

Yager is a long-time Washington lobbyist and association executive who has over 30 years of senior government and public affairs experience in the public and private sectors. His background includes senior government positions in the administration and Congress, as well as private sector experience with four national associations and a business-consulting firm.

Yager is currently the executive director of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, an honorific organization of the most accomplished innovators in the fields of medical and biological engineering. Previously he served for 16 years as president and CEO of the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations, where he established a national lobbying campaign to successfully pass 22 comprehensive state statutes and provided the foundation for Congress to pass comprehensive legislation amending the tax code. Yager has served as an administration political appointee to a regulatory agency, held senior lobbyist positions for two national trade associations, testified before Congress, was chief of staff to a member of Congress, a candidate for public office, and has participated in congressional and presidential campaigns. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa and has a master's degree in public administration from the American University in Washington, D.C.

"We are extremely pleased to have Mr. Yager visit us and emphasize the need for advocacy towards increased biomedical research funding to promote innovation," said Raj Rao, professor and department head of biomedical engineering.

In his seminar, titled "The Losing Case for Innovation: Understanding Why Congress Doesn't Fund Research," Yager will discuss the role of R&D in the success of the America's most innovative corporations. He will argue that lawmakers too often view government models of discovery, from NASA to public university research labs, as obsolete and costly superstructures in today's .com marketplace. What happened, he will ask, to the case for public exploration and discovery and why shouldn't the private sector be trusted to find the cure for Grandma's dementia or Johnny's brain tumor? In this seminar, Yager will reveal the hidden truth about why Congress doesn't fund needed biomedical research.

Ultimately, Yager will demonstrate that researchers who equip themselves with strategies for political warfare in the case for innovation are doing more than just changing public policy; they can provide the key to changing the future landscape of new biomedical materials, products or procedures. Attendees will get insight into America's next biomedical "moonshot" initiative.