Washington, DC - The Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) announces that Brett Loper has joined the Association as senior executive vice president and director of its Government Affairs department.

Loper has extensive management and leadership experience including serving as Rep. Jim McCrery's chief of staff and most recently as minority staff director for the House Committee on Ways and Means. He has a proven track record in skillfully leading large teams to achieve success in the policy and legislative arenas and will be responsible for guiding the Association's advocacy efforts at the federal and state level.

"Brett joins AdvaMed at an important time and builds on the strength of our bipartisan staff of policy experts," said AdvaMed President and CEO Stephen J. Ubl. "With the successful passage of the Medical Device User Fee Modernization Act behind us, we will work to ensure health care reform improves access and encourages the development of better treatments and cures, Medicare reimbursement policies keep pace with innovation; and patients in overseas markets continue to benefit from our products. Brett's expertise in both policy and legislative affairs will be essential to ensuring patient access to the technologies that are improving health outcomes and lower the cost of quality care."

Before joining Rep. McCrery, Loper served in various positions with the House leadership, including as deputy chief of staff for the House Majority Leader's office. In 2001, Loper served as deputy associate director for legislative affairs at the Office of Management and Budget.

Loper will head AdvaMed's bipartisan government affairs team and will join a group of senior leaders including David Nexon, the Association's senior executive vice president and former senior health policy advisor to Sen. Edward Kennedy, as well as Julie Cohen, a former top health policy aide for Sen. Herb Kohl.

AdvaMed member companies produce the medical devices, diagnostic products and health information systems that are transforming health care through earlier disease detection, less invasive procedures and more effective treatments. Our members produce nearly 90 percent of the health care technology purchased annually in the United States and more than 50 percent purchased annually around the world. AdvaMed members range from the largest to the smallest medical technology innovators and companies. For more information, visit http://www.advamed.org/.