Pre-Med Center Hosts Panel Discussion on Healthcare in WNY

September 18, 2012

BUFFALO, NY The Dr. George E. Schreiner ’43 Pre-Medical Distinguished Speaker Series at Canisius will host a panel discussion on “The Future of Health Care in Western New York” on Tuesday, October 2 from 7:00 p.m. – 8: 00 p.m. in the Montante Cultural Center. The event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited.

Mark Lema ’71, MD, PhD, chair, Department of Anesthesiology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, will serve as panel moderator. Thomas Lombardo, MD, president-elect of the Erie County Medical Society, will serve as co-moderator.  The following distinguished members of the Western New York medical community will serve as panelists:

  • Michael W. Cropp, MD, president and CEO, Independent Health.  Under Cropp’s leadership, Independent Health delivers health care solutions that improve the health of nearly 375,000 customers locally and nationwide. He is a board-certified family physician with more than 25 years of experience practicing medicine and as a physician leader. He serves on the Alliance of Community Health Plans and America’s Health Insurance Plans. He is founding chairman and current board member of the P2 Collaborative of Western New York, a not-for-profit organization with 180 partner organizations that works to improve the health of people in Western New York. Cropp is also chairman of HEATHeLINK, a consortium of health care providers, hospital networks and insurance companies working to provide electronic exchange of clinical information throughout the region’s health care systems.

  • Michael J. Edbauer, DO, chief medical officer (CMO) of Catholic Health Partners (CHP) and vice president, Medical Affairs, Home Care and Primary Care, Catholic Health System.  Edbauer has more than 15 years of experience in medical management and health care consulting. In his current role of CMO for Catholic Health Partners, Edbauer is responsible for providing medical leadership and furthering integration between Catholic Health and CHP. In 2010, he established Trinity Medical WNY, PC, an employment model multi-site physician practice which works within the Independent Physicians Association (IPA).

  • James R. Kaskie, MD, president and CEO of Kaleida Health. Kaskie leads a family of health care organizations that include the systems’ five hospitals, four skilled nursing facilities, 90 ambulatory care programs and sites, the Visiting Nursing Association and fully integrated operating and clinical systems. Kaleida Health is Western New York’s largest private employer, serving nearly one million people a year and generating net revenue of $1.2 billion. Kaskie also serves as president and CEO of Great Lakes Health System of Western New York (GLH), the parent organization, overseeing the integration of Erie County Medical Center Corporation and the Kaleida Health System. GLH serves as the principal partner with the University at Buffalo training future health care professionals.

  • Donald Trump, MD, FACP, president and CEO, Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Trump has direct authority over day-to-day operations, philanthropic and operating budgets, capital improvements, research priorities and clinical and scientific strategic planning for the institute. He is responsible for establishing a culture of excellence through RPCI’s key mission areas: research, clinical care, education and cancer prevention. In addition to his role as president and CEO, Trump continues his work as a clinical scientist and physician. He leads the institute’s strong clinical research program in vitamin D-based cancer prevention and treatment, and he cares for patients with prostate cancer and other urologic cancers. Trump is the principal investigator on several grants funded by the National Cancer Institute. He holds European and U.S. patents for the use of vitamin D and vitamin D analogs in combination with high-dose chemotherapy and has co-authored a textbook entitled Vitamin D and Cancer.  

For more information, contact the Public Relations Office at Canisius University, at 716-888-2790.

Canisius is one of 28 Jesuit universities in the nation and the premier private university in Western New York.