It is JDRF Advocacy’s great honor to announce that Kimberly C. Roosevelt, of Dallas, Texas, will serve as chair of JDRF 2015 Children’s Congress to be held in Washington, D.C., this July. Kim, a prominent JDRF Advocate and volunteer leader, and mother to 13-year-old Elizabeth who lives with type 1 diabetes (T1D), will welcome more than 150 children to our nation’s capital. These Delegates, ages 4 to 17, will meet with their U.S. Senators and Representatives to put a human face on the costs of T1D for our nation and for the millions of families personally affected by the disease. Selected from more than a thousand compelling applications, these extraordinary Delegates from each state and the District of Columbia will advocate for Federal Government support for T1D research funding and thoughtful regulatory and health policies that will help accelerate life-changing therapies and ultimately a cure for T1D

Kim’s daughter, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with T1D at the age of five and was seven when she served as a Delegate at the JDRF 2009 Children’s Congress. In her Delegate yearbook entry, Elizabeth said she wanted to share her story with Members of Congress because: “I want to see diabetes cured, like polio was after my great-great-grandfather Franklin Delano Roosevelt raised money for it.” Elizabeth and her mother understand that T1D is a family disease. Everybody in the family must work to manage it, and every family member can play a part in ending it. That is why Kim has volunteered significant time, talent and heart to chairing this year’s JDRF Children’s Congress.

Achieving JDRF’s vision of a world without T1D will take both public and private resources. Kim has been a strong force not only for federal funding for research, but also for JDRF fundraising, cofounding a Fund A Cure luncheon in Dallas, and working tirelessly with the local JDRF Dallas Chapter to make others more aware of the critical need for T1D research funding.

Since her family’s inspiring experience at JDRF 2009 Children’s Congress, Kim has thrown herself headlong into advocacy work to benefit T1D research. Kim has served as the JDRF Dallas Chapter’s Advocacy Team Chair (ATC) and currently serves on the Chapter’s Board of Directors. She travels to Washington, D.C. annually for JDRF Government Day and has forged important relationships with Members of both the U.S. House and Senate and their staff on issues of importance to her family.

Kim is an attorney by trade, with a background in litigation, and has significant experience practicing law with Jones Day in their Dallas, Chicago and NY offices. Kim holds a law degree from the University of Louisville, in Kentucky.

Our JDRF Advocacy family is tremendously excited to welcome Kim Roosevelt and her family back to Washington, D.C., to help us host JDRF 2015 Children’s Congress. Under her guidance, inspiration and enthusiasm, we know this will be our most successful JDRF Children’s Congress held to date!