Karole Bradford Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Kansas City Medical Society Foundation

Jim Braibish • April 29, 2020

Please join us in congratulating Karole Bradford who has been appointed chief executive officer of the Kansas City Medical Society Foundation effective May 1, 2020.

Bradford joined the KCMS Foundation in December 2018 as chief program officer and since then has overseen its staff and operations.

With nearly 20 years of nonprofit leadership experience, she previously was executive director of Riverview Health Services, a Kansas City, Kan., agency that helps uninsured children and adults access prescription medications. Her background includes 11 years of experience in Wyandotte County safety net health care. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Wichita State University.

Bradford succeeds Angela Bedell, MA, CAE, who has been executive director since 2018 when the KCMS Foundation was formed through a merger of the Wy Jo Care and Metro Care charitable care programs for the uninsured. Bedell continues as executive director and CEO of the Kansas City Medical Society and will work closely with Bradford on matters involving the KCMS Foundation and the Medical Society.

“We are pleased to have an individual with Karole’s talent and experience to lead the KCMS Foundation through its next steps of growth and development. Over the past year, she has proven herself very capable of leading the KCMS Foundation’s staff and operations,” said Stephen Salanski, MD, chair of the KCMS Foundation board of directors.

“In addition, we salute Angela for her outstanding leadership in shepherding the merger of the Metro Care and Wy Jo Care charitable care programs into the KCMS Foundation. This was a lengthy and complex process that has yielded a strong organization better positioned to help meet the health care needs of the many uninsured, low-income residents of the Kansas City area—a need now intensified by COVID-19,” Dr. Salanski continued.

Karole can be reached at kbradford@kcmedicine.org.

The KCMS Foundation advances health care access for vulnerable populations in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Its charitable care programs—Wy Jo Care in Kansas and Metro Care in Missouri—connect uninsured, low-income individuals with specialty medical care they otherwise could not afford. Participating physicians, hospitals and other health services donate care free of charge to these patients out of their concern for the less fortunate. In 2019, Wy Jo Care and Metro Care served nearly 800 patients and arranged for more than $8,000,000 in donated medical care. Besides charitable care, the KCMS Foundation conducts wellness and prevention initiatives, coordinates a coalition promoting health care workforce diversity, provides community health education and currently is advocating for Medicaid expansion in Missouri and Kansas. Learn more about the KCMS Foundation.

Skyline view of Kansas City, Missouri, including Union Station, with a field in the foreground under a cloudy sky.

Letter from the President 2026

By Micah Flint • December 18, 2025
As we finish 2025, I am humbled and honored to be your incoming Kansas City Medical Society president. I want to thank Dr. Sarah Hon for her leadership and mentorship over the past year, and our executive director, Micah Flint, for his administrative support. Our medical society began with the Jackson County Medical Society in 1881, later merging with Wyandotte and Johnson County Medical Societies to become the bi-state Kansas City Medical Society in 2018. We have led health initiatives including Tobacco 21 legislation, Medicaid expansion, the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid crisis, and physician wellness. Our society is currently advocating for a speaker’s bureau, promoting suicide awareness at our local hospitals each fall, and leading vaccine education efforts in our community. As we move into 2026, our healthcare environment continues to change rapidly. With new medications and procedures, hospital mergers, EMRs, AI, scope-of-practice changes, hospitalists, and the rise of employed physicians, there are many challenges but also opportunities to lead in our healthcare communities. We must support one another to thrive and flourish. I ask that you stay involved and active in our organization as we plan networking and CME activities for 2026. Continue reaching out to colleagues as we learn from one another.

Letter from the President 2025

January 6, 2025
I consider it a sincere honor to serve as president of the Kansas City Medical Society this year. As we look forward to this new year, we celebrate our previous accomplishments and look for new ways to meet the challenges of our ever-changing healthcare environment. As we recognize our recent successes, I want to take the opportunity to thank Dr. Greg Unruh, our immediate past president, for his excellent leadership, and I look forward to his continued partnership, providing much-needed wisdom and experience to our board of directors as well as a leadership council. I am also deeply appreciative of Micah Flint, our executive director, now in his third year with the Society. As a board, we are prioritizing key areas where we believe the Society can make a difference for physicians and the communities we serve. With this in mind, we will continue our focus on wellness, advocacy, and expand our opportunities for in person social and educational gatherings. Our journal connects us in a variety of valuable ways, and we will continue its publication and expand its distribution. Under the directorship of Karole Bradford, the Society’s Foundation continues to do invaluable work. We celebrate those accomplishments and the charitable care they provide to our community’s vulnerable population. We are grateful for our individual members and corporate sponsors and welcome your suggestions of how the Society can best serve physicians and our community. Please mark your calendar for the Society’s upcoming events and consider inviting physician colleagues to join you as we gather to learn and support one another.

2024 Physician Suicide Awareness Campaign

September 18, 2024
Kansas City area hospitals turn out for Physician Suicide Awareness Day: September 17th, 2024