Yvonne M. Buhlinger is the Executive Vice President of the Affinia Healthcare Foundation and Vice President of Development and Community Relations for Affinia Healthcare. The Foundation works to secure resources to address unmet healthcare needs in our community. The community health center provides affordable, high-quality primary and preventive health services through 9 locations, serving the most vulnerable in the St. Louis area.
Ms. Buhlinger joined Affinia Healthcare in 1996 as Coordinator of Managed Care, promoted to Director of Managed Care within six months, and charged with development and oversight of a new community health outreach program. In 2004 her responsibilities expanded to include implementation of a $15 million lead remediation and prevention project and was promoted to Managing Director of Community Health and Managed Care. In 2012 she became Vice President of Community Health Services. In 2015 she assumed the role of Vice President of Development and Community Relations. In 2018 she accepted the additional role of Executive Vice President of the newly formed Affinia Healthcare Foundation.
Previously, Ms. Buhlinger held the role of Eastern Region Supervisor at First Health Corporation, a company contracted by Missouri Medicaid to implement the start of Medicaid Managed Care, and before, she worked at Life Skills Foundation as Associate Director for Supported Employment, winning the four-state regional Project Excel Award, modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
Ms. Buhlinger’s board service includes volunteering as board advisor for MOFEAT from 2007-2010; participated in the Missouri State-Wide Blue Ribbon Pannel for Autism in 2007-2008; served on the Behavioral Health Network of Greater St. Louis advisory Board from 2012-2015; and served as Chair of the Family Advisory Board of Webster University from 2019-2021 and served on this board from 2018-2023. Ms. Buhlinger served on the Board of the Hispanic Leaders Group of Greater St. Louis from 2019 through 2024, serving as Board Vice Chair for the last three years and remains a member of the organization. Currently, Ms. Buhlinger serves on the Focus St. Louis Board Bridge Advisory Committee and on the Disparities Elimination Advisory Committee (DEAC) of the Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD) of the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center of Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.
Throughout her life Ms. Buhlinger has been an active volunteer in numerous organizations as part of her life mission, ranging from hospitals, churches, food pantries, organizations serving individuals with disabilities, the elderly, children, and other vulnerable individuals. In 2020, Ms. Buhlinger received the Unsung Human Rights Hero Award from the United Nations Association of St. Louis.
Ms. Buhlinger holds a B.S. in Psychology and a Masters of Social Work, both from Washington University in St. Louis. Ms. Buhlinger also holds a Fellowship in Community Health Center Executive Management from Kansas University Medical Center.