Dr. Stephen Salanski obtained his medical degree from the University of Missouri, Columbia School of Medicine and his undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas. He completed his residency at the Baptist Medical Center Family Practice Residency Program. Steve worked for 12 years in private Family Practice in Lee’s Summit, MO before returning to the residency program (eventually renamed Research Family Medicine Residency), where he was a Faculty Physician for 19 years – the last 12 as Program Director. Steve then served for three-and-a half years as Regional Medical Director for CenterWell Senior-Focused Primary Care, leading eight clinics across the Kansas City Metro region. He retired in late 2021.

Steve has had a long-standing interest in Medical/Bioethics. He served as Chair of the Baptist-Lutheran Medical Center Ethics Committee for seven years, and then on the Research Medical Center Ethics Committee for 10 years. Steve was Co-Chair of the Center for Practical Bioethics Ethics Committee Consortium (ECC) from 2004 until he joined the Center’s Board in 2017. The ECC includes representatives from most Kansas City area hospitals and a growing number of healthcare organizations from across the nation. He is the Center’s Board Chair for 2023-2024.

Steve has also been active in other community healthcare-related nonprofit organizations. He was Chair of the Kansas City Medical Society Foundation Board in 2020 and again in 2023. The KCMSF oversees Project Access Programs Metro Care and WyJo Care, which help to provide specialty healthcare services for persons without health insurance. He was President of the KC Medical Society in 2016 and continues to serve on the KCMS Board and the KCMS Leadership Council. Steve also represents the Medical Society on the KC Healthcare Collaborative Board, which is working to improve health equity and social determinants of health in the KC Metro. In 2020, Steve was Chair of the Baptist-Trinity-Lutheran Legacy Foundation Board, which oversees the Kansas City Medicine Cabinet Program that provides medical funding assistance to underserved individuals in the Kansas City Region — and he continues to serve on that Board. Steve also led many community health initiatives in Lee’s Summit as Co-Chair of the Lee’s Summit Health Education Advisory Board for almost fifteen years.