St. Bonaventure University will peer into the future of health care Thursday, Sept. 19, at the Rigas Theater in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

“A Franciscan Perspective on Health Care Delivery in 2030” runs from 7-9 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

The keynote speaker is John J. Finan Jr., executive emeritus at Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His talk will be followed by a panel discussion and question-and-answer period featuring:

• Dr. Kevin Watkins, MD, MPH, public health director of the Cattaraugus County Department of Health and vice president of the New York State Association of County Health Officials Board of Directors;
• Dr. Claire Watson, assistant professor, founding director of St. Bonaventure’s public health program, and the former executive director of SBU’s School of Health Professions initiative;
• Athena Godet-Calogeras, MS, chair of the Health Care Access Coalition, a grass-roots community organization committed to affordable and quality universal health care, and a volunteer educator with the Cattaraugus County Department of Health.

“The Franciscan movement that emerged in response to health care conditions in the Middle Ages offers us insights, encouragement, and inspiration today,” said Jean-François Godet-Calogeras, professor emeritus and organizer of the evening’s event. 

Finan has more than 50 years of experience in healthcare leadership and operations.  He has held senior positions in the Midwest and in Louisiana, and is active in many professional organizations. He was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Catholic Health Association in 2017.

Finan is a former chair of the Board of Trustees of the Catholic Health Association and a former member of the American Hospital Association Board of Trustees.

He is a former board chair of not-for-profit VHA which is known today as Vizient; former chair for the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry; former member of the Board of Directors of the Council for a Better Louisiana; former chair of the Board of Trustees of Loyola University in New Orleans; former vice chair of the Mercy Health System Board of Directors in St. Louis; and former chair of the Board of Governors at the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health.

Finan has held academic appointments at Southern Illinois University, Washington University School of Medicine, University of Alabama School of Health Related Professions, and The George Washington University.

Finan received his bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University at New Orleans and his MBA from Loyola University of New Orleans.

The event is sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences, School of Health Professions, Franciscan Institute, and Visiting Scholars Committee.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. In 2019, St. Bonaventure was named the #1 regional university value in New York and #2 in the North by U.S. News and World Report.

About the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System: The Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System was founded by the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Sisters and today is one of the largest healthcare systems based in Louisiana and the leading healthcare provider for more than half the state’s population. The health system is a non-profit, Catholic organization sponsored by the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady.

Headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the ministry serves patients in Louisiana and Mississippi through a network of hospitals, ambulatory centers, clinics, physicians, residential nursing care, elderly housing and integrated systems. The ministry’s seven hospitals include St. Francis Medical Center in Monroe, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge and Gonzales, Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center and Women's & Children's in Lafayette, Our Lady of the Angels in Bogalusa and St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson. For more information, visit www.fmolhs.org.