By Natalie Szymanski
BUFFALO — Twenty years ago, a University at Buffalo undergraduate took an unpaid internship at a small Christian health clinic on Barton Street. This month, Dr. Allana M. Krolikowski marked her first year running it.
Krolikowski, who earned bachelor’s degrees from UB in 2006 and her medical degree from UB in 2011, became chief executive of Jericho Road Community Health Center on Oct. 6, 2025, succeeding founder Dr. Myron Glick. Last month, UB honored her with the Walter P. Cooke Community Leadership Award at its 2026 Alumni Achievement Awards, held Sept. 24.
Her first year has coincided with a shift in how health centers like hers are paid. A federal change to Medicaid eligibility for many lawfully present immigrants took effect Oct. 1, new Medicaid work requirements begin in January, and Jericho Road has spent the year pressing Albany for more primary care money while also running clinics in Africa and Asia that rely on private donors.
From the front desk to the corner office
Jericho Road was founded by Glick and his wife, Joyce Glick, in 1997 and became a federally qualified health center in 2013. According to the organization’s announcement of her appointment, it now has more than $40 million in annual revenue, five health centers in Buffalo and more than 24,000 patients, plus global clinics in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nepal.
Krolikowski’s path there was unusual. She started as an intern in 2005, later worked the front office during a leave from medical school, returned as a physician in 2015 and became chief medical officer in 2019. The announcement also lists her as a Pisacano Scholar, a former Peace Corps Response volunteer in Malawi and a clinical assistant professor at UB.
In an essay published on the center’s website as she took the job, Krolikowski described the front-office stint as the turning point. “It was here, helping patients navigate the broken system, that I understood my calling was not just medicine, but the pursuit of justice,” she wrote.
“For the past ten years, I have focused my work at Jericho Road on comprehensive primary care, health care capacity building, and advocating for health justice to advance health equity and access,” Krolikowski said in the appointment announcement. “I look forward to honoring the legacy of Myron and Joyce Glick, while leading Jericho Road in this next season to advance our mission.”
The center is openly faith-based. Its stated mission, which Krolikowski repeated in the announcement, is to care for its communities and advocate for health equity “in order to demonstrate the unconditional love of Jesus.”
The money question
Federally qualified health centers receive enhanced Medicaid rates and federal grants in exchange for serving everyone. Krolikowski has been blunt that the model leaves gaps. “But we don’t get paid extra to care for those without insurance. And yet, we never turn anyone away,” she wrote in her October 2025 essay.
In the Health Foundation for Western & Central New York’s annual report, which notes that Jericho Road delivers about 450 babies a year, she framed the coming Medicaid changes as a test of how much care a center can sustain. “How much can you truly do that you know is good for the patient, good for the family, good for the community, when all of a sudden you start getting less and less funding in the door?” she said.
The largest changes come from the 2025 reconciliation law, which President Donald Trump signed on July 4, 2025, and which the White House now calls the Working Families Tax Cut Act. Beginning Oct. 1, the law limits federally funded Medicaid to citizens, green-card holders and a few other groups, which ends eligibility for many refugees and asylees who do not yet have green cards, KFF Health News reported. Glick warned in a December 2025 op-ed that the change would hit Buffalo’s refugee community, a population Jericho Road is known for serving.
The administration has defended the provisions as a matter of stewardship. In a White House memorandum, it called the law’s health measures “the most important America First healthcare reforms ever enacted” and said they were aimed at “ensuring that taxpayer dollars are focused on American citizens.” The memo said the eligibility limits “ensure that Medicaid cannot be used in conjunction with abuses of the immigration system.” Supporters have also said the work requirements, which apply to many able-bodied adults, are meant to encourage employment and protect the program for the most vulnerable.
The local impact may be softer than elsewhere. KFF Health News reported that New York has state-funded coverage for many of the immigrants affected by the federal change.
Lobbying Albany
Krolikowski has spent much of the year making the case in Albany. In a May 21 op-ed in The Buffalo News, republished by the center, she backed the Primary Care Investment Act (S1634A/A1915A), which would push insurers to spend a larger share on primary care. She wrote that an emergency room visit averages $1,200, compared with $150 to $300 for a primary care visit, and that 45% of residents in the 14211 ZIP code have high blood pressure, compared with 34% countywide.
Jericho Road also joined a regional push by Western New York health center leaders for more state money. The Community Health Care Association of New York State has asked for $300 million to cover what it estimates is a shortfall of the same size.
Some state money has arrived. Jericho Road was one of four Western New York providers selected for state health workforce training grants, The Buffalo Chronicle reported on Friday. Krolikowski is also building out her leadership team. This month, she shared a posting on LinkedIn for a new chief people officer.
A clinic in Goma
Jericho Road’s global work drew national attention this year. In June, as the Democratic Republic of the Congo faced an Ebola outbreak, the center’s clinic in Goma received $2.5 million in supplies, 17 pallets in all, through the relief group Direct Relief, Buffalo Toronto Public Media reported.
“We’ve had lots of people coming for screening, and they’re getting education at the same time about the spread of Ebola [and] safety,” Krolikowski told the station.
Jericho Road did not receive funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, whose functions the Trump administration folded into the State Department in 2025, saying foreign aid should advance American interests. Krolikowski told the station that the change has raised competition for private dollars. “Now, organizations who are doing really good work are all essentially asking philanthropists for the same pots of money or going to foundations and grants that are open,” she said.
What’s next
In her October 2025 essay, Krolikowski promised to “steward our resources wisely, build lasting financial sustainability, and deepen our partnerships.” A year in, those are the same pressures facing health centers across New York.
“I know we live in uncertain times, but I am hopeful,” she wrote.
The Buffalo Chronicle sought comment from Krolikowski and Jericho Road Community Health Center for this story. This article will be updated with any response.
Photo: Jericho Road Community Health Center, 184 Barton St., Buffalo. Photo: Andre Carrotflower / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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