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Our History

The Medical Society of the County of Erie was founded on September 1, 1821 by the first physician in Erie County, Cyrenius Chapin.  The Society began as a means of fulfilling a requirement of New York State law, since all physicians within the State were required to belong to a local medical society at that time.

Through the years, the Medical Society of Erie County has been marked by innovative physician leaders who paved the way for the development of Buffalo. Notably, as of 1903, Buffalo had the lowest death rate of any city of its size in the world based on the impact of Buffalo’s Health Commissioner during the typhoid pandemic, Ernest Wende, MD.

Furthermore, leaders of the Medical Society of Erie County founded the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and played a critical role in the development and advancement of Buffalo’s regional hospitals both yesterday and today.

As we confront today’s global pandemic, we are pleased to note that Erie County’s current Health Commissioner, Gale Burstein, MD, MPH is also a distinguished member of the Medical Society of Erie County.

Today,  the Medical Society offers a robust line of member benefits, including the following:

  • Daily Email Blasts Regarding Evolving COVID-19 Guidelines and information relating to a wide range of topics, including PPP funding and the latest trends in the medical community regionally and at the State level.
  • Discounts on insurance (health, dental, disability, etc) products from our preferred vendors.
  • Free Consultative and Legal & Risk Management Guidance.
  • Marketing Support:  Push content important to your practice to 3000+ physicians in the region
  • Physician Recruitment:  Posting of job vacancies and candidates to our website https://wnydocs.org/page-1075529, which has proven to result in physician recruitment on a weekly basis.
  • Free Physician Employment Contract Review
  • Free processing of NYS Workers' Compensation Applications
  • Business Practice Webinars with Industry Experts for your Office Staff and opportunities for your Practice Administrators to sit on our regional Practice Management Committee
  • A unified voice locally and in Albany to legislators, government agencies, and third-party payers in efforts to increase physician reimbursement and resolve regional access to care issues.
  • Reduced PPE Pricing for Physician Members
  • Free CMEs
  • Increase in Patient Referrals - Physician Locator: Listing of Physician Members with fields to search by practice area, demographics, and links to your practice's URL to encourage traffic to your website https://wnydocs.org/find 

Please consider adding to the ongoing momentum that we are experiencing at the Erie County Medical Society and BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!



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