Shea’s President Brian Higgins Named to Roswell Park Board of Directors

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is pleased to welcome Shea’s Performing Arts Center President Brian Higgins to its Board of Directors. He was appointed by President and Majority Leader of the New York State Senate Andrea Stewart-Cousins to fill a vacancy.

“Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is truly an extraordinary place, exuding courage, compassion and world-class scientific innovation,” says Higgins. “I’ve been proud to partner with Roswell Park in Washington to strengthen our national commitment to cancer research, and I’m deeply honored to continue to be an advocate as a member of the Roswell Park Board of Directors. For well over a century, Roswell Park has served as a national leader in the fight against cancer, offering hope, healing and discovery, saving countless lives. Together we can build on that remarkable legacy to benefit today’s brave cancer-fighters and generations yet to come.”

As President of Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Higgins oversees a three-theater campus in downtown Buffalo. He is the principal fundraiser for the theater and recently negotiated a collaboration with MusicalFare Theatre at Shea’s 710. 

From 2005 to 2024, Higgins was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 26th and 27th Districts of New York. One of his biggest accomplishments was the $400 million transformation of Buffalo’s waterfront into a system of parks, trails and parkways. 

During that time, he was also a leading advocate nationally for funding cancer research, earning a position of Co-Chair of the Congressional Cancer Caucus and member on the Childhood Cancer Caucus. Among other actions, he urged the FDA to provide guidance for immunotherapy-based combination clinical trials, led introduction of the bipartisan Cancer Drug Parity Act, and was lead cosponsor of the Increasing Access to Lung Cancer Screening Act.

A graduate of Buffalo State College and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Higgins was a member of the Buffalo Common Council and the New York State Assembly. He also held the role of Chief of Staff of the Erie County legislature and adjunct instructor at Buffalo State College.

Higgins also serves on the Board of Directors at Daemen University, Buffalo Place and the New York State Council on the Arts. 

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From the world’s first chemotherapy research to the PSA prostate cancer biomarker, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center generates innovations that shape how cancer is detected, treated and prevented worldwide. The Roswell Park team of 4,000+ makes compassionate, patient-centered cancer care and services accessible across New York State and beyond. Rated “Exceptional” by the National Cancer Institute, Roswell Park, founded in 1898, was one of the first NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers in the country and remains the only one in Upstate New York. To learn more about Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Roswell Park Care Network, visit www.roswellpark.org, call 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or email ASKRoswell@RoswellPark.org.