Senator Bill Cassidy to Speak at Spring Diploma Ceremony

 

Distinguished alumnus and U.S. Senator for Louisiana Bill Cassidy, will be the keynote speaker during the LSU College of Science spring commencement exercises to be held Friday, May 12th in the Maddox Fieldhouse at 5 p.m.

 

Speaker Biography:

Senator Cassidy is a local physician, teacher and lifelong community servant. He graduated from the LSU College of Science in 1979 with a degree in biochemistry and later earned a medical degree from LSU Medical Center in 1983.

Senator Cassidy has spent nearly three decades providing care for uninsured and underinsured patients in Louisiana’s charity hospital system. During this time, he co-founded the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic, a clinic providing free dental and health care to the working uninsured. He also created a private-public partnership to vaccinate 36,000 greater Baton Rouge area children against Hepatitis B at no cost to the schools or parents. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Senator Cassidy led a group of health care volunteers to convert an abandoned K-Mart building into an emergency health care facility, providing basic health care to hurricane evacuees. In 1990, he joined LSU Medical School, teaching medical students and residents and treating the uninsured. He continues to teach and see patients at LSU clinics when he is not in Washington, D.C.

Bill Cassidy was elected to the Louisiana State Senate in 2006 and in 2008 was elected to the United States House of Representatives to represent Louisiana’s Sixth Congressional District. In the U.S. House,  he served on the Energy and Commerce Committee. He was elected to the Senate in 2014 where he serves on the Health Education Labor & Pensions (HELP), Energy and Natural Resources, Finance, Veterans Affairs and Joint Economic committees.

 Raised in Baton Rouge, Senator Cassidy is the fourth son of Jim and Betty Cassidy. He is married to Dr. Laura Cassidy and they have three children: Will, Meg and Kate.