UB Regional Institute Director Gives Keynote Address to NYS Health Foundation’s Buffalo-Region Leadership Forum

Kathryn A. Foster, director of the UB Regional Institute, served as a keynote panelist at the Buffalo-Region Leadership Forum of the New York State Health Foundation on May 14, 2009. Foster’s presentation, Vital Signs: Assessing Regional Well-Being in Western New York, offered a perspective on the overall wellness of the region, including economic and demographic trends that relate to today’s health care access, affordability and equity challenges. Foster also discussed opportunities to influence health policy at the local, state and federal levels. The institute is also advancing understanding of the region’s health care status through its partnership with the Community Health Foundation of Western & Central New York on Reaching for Excellence, an initiative to engage the community in health care planning.