"We must start with ourselves as leaders in this movement."
The Past:
in Medicine
Dr. Lavonne Ansari
Dr. LaVonne E. Ansari, PhD, has served as Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Community Health Center of Buffalo, Inc., since 2006.
She is an experienced educator, administrator, and manager with over 20 years of experience in equity and diversity, workforce development, higher education, and community-based health care and hospital administration.
Dr. Ansari specializes in organizational leadership. Her ability to visualize new landscapes and opportunities remains the driving force behind the expansion of the Community Health Center of Buffalo, Inc. She has taken the organization from a single-site, Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) to a five-site, multi-county, multi-service organization serving patients across Western New York in Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Lockport, and Niagara Falls.
Using social determinants of health and coordinated care service schematics as her guide, Dr. Ansari has added programming and developed partnerships that address prevention and wellness, re-entry, chronic disease management, mental health education, physical therapy, grief counseling, and telemedicine, to name a few. Through advocacy, policy, strategic planning, and effective management, Dr. Ansari has enhanced the lives of families from households in distressed communities to inmates in prisons throughout New York State
Dr. Ansari holds a bachelor’s degree in professional studies from Brockport State College, a master’s degree in Multidisciplinary Studies from the State University of New York College at Buffalo, and a PhD in Sociology of Education from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She also received a certificate in Career Development and Management in Women’s Studies from Cornell University.
Dr. Ansari is an Advisory Board Member of the University of Buffalo Education Opportunity Center and a Commissioner on the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA). She has received numerous awards, including Buffalo Business First 2020 and 2021 “Power 250”; and 2021 - “Power 200 Women” recognition.
