Elizabeth Schumacher is a kidney-transplant patient and CEO and Founder of Affinity Strategies, a medical subspecialty and patient engagement and association management firm in Chicago. Liz has represented health care clients for over 20 years, including global medical subspecialty associations, hospital systems, insurers and pharmaceutical companies. Liz has the unique ability to authentically engage stakeholders and build strategic and comprehensive alliances and audiences, which is supported by her executive and entrepreneurial experience. Prior to starting Affinity Strategies, Liz was Executive Director of LUGPA, a national urology subspecialty association with over 2,400 members. As a senior legislative attorney for the American Medical Association, Liz oversaw health insurance related legal and regulatory policy. While at Pfizer, Liz organized patient audiences around key initiatives. Liz began her career at age 26 at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, where she was responsible for the third largest academic medical research budget in the United States. Liz is a 35 year, three time kidney transplant recipient. Her passion for patient engagement began when she testified before Congress at age 18. Liz received her BA, JD and LLM in Bioethics from the University of Wisconsin.
