Uncrowned Community Builders

Dr. Leslie E. Clapp, a Board Certified physician and clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the University at Buffalo, is a graduate of Buffalo Public Schools, Oberlin College, and the University of Cincinnati, School of Medicine.

A founding member of the Buffalo Chapter of the National Medical Alliance, she initiated its mentor program for minority medical students, linking them to established local African American physicians. A fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, she also is a member of the Buffalo Pediatric Society and the Erie County Medical Society. She serves on the Board of Directors of the United Way, the Children's Hospital Residency Recruitment and Admissions Board, and the Medical Management Board of Community Blue.

Founder of Main Pediatrics, Dr. Clapp enjoys speaking to young people who seek her advice in civic, church, school, and other organizational settings, as well as encouraging her young patients to engage in good physical and mental health habits and to strive towards excellence in their career goals. She knows she is fortunate to have achieved many of her own personal aspirations. This strengthens her commitment to serve others. She values education, believing it is vital to the success of efforts to improve the socioeconomic condition of African Americans. Dr. Clapp feels keenly the need for more black physicians in Buffalo and actively seeks to help to this end, she has worked on the University's College of Medicine Admissions Committee.

Dr. Clapp's counsel, sought by mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and friends of her patients, is caring and highly valued. Her honest, concerned approach encourages acceptance, and many women in the community attribute much needed assistance and relief from pressure to her.

Many organizations in the area have paid special honor to Dr. Clapp. She is recipient of the Agape African Methodist Episcopal Church's Women's Day Award; the Student National Medical Alliance's Award for Outstanding Contribution to Minority Medical Students; the Community Service Award of the African American Police Association; the Outstanding Women in Medicine Award of the Women's Day Committee of Second Temple Baptist Church; the Citation for Outstanding Woman in Medicine from the Community Advisory Committee of the State University of New York at Buffalo; the Women Helping Women Award of the Buffalo Chapter of the National Organization of Women; the 1993 Citizen of the Year Award from The Buffalo News; the NAACP Community Service Award; the Distinguished Alumni Award of Bennett Park School No. 32; Business First, Forty Under 40 award (1993); the Toast of Buffalo Award of the YMCA of Greater Buffalo (1994); the Community Service Award in Medicine from Gamma Phi Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; and, with her husband, the Community Service Award of the Xi Epsilon Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Dr. Clapp's husband, Michael C. Ezie, is Director of Medicaid Managed Care at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Western New York. The couple has three daughters, Chinyere, Kelecchi, and Chisara, and one son, Chiemeka.