BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Affordable Care Act will be the subject of the J. Warren Perry Lecture that will be presented at the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions on Nov. 16 from 3:30 - 4:45 p.m. by Howard K. Koh, MD, MPH, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Media interested in interviewing Koh before the event should contact Ellen Goldbaum in the Office of University Communications at 716-645-4605.

Koh's talk, "Promoting Public Health in the Era of Health Reform," is free and open to the public. It will take place in 190 Kapoor Hall on the UB South Campus.

Koh will discuss the need for prevention in health care. Specifically, he will discuss the Affordable Care Act's focus on prevention through benefits and services as well as various HHS initiatives and programs that focus on prevention, including tobacco, vaccines and hepatitis.

At HHS, Koh oversees 14 core public health offices, including the Office of the Surgeon General and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, 10 Regional Health Offices across the nation, and 10 presidential and secretarial advisory committees. He also serves as senior public health advisor to the secretary.

The J. Warren Perry award and lecture series is presented by UB's School of Public Health and Health Professions to honor the late J. Warren Perry, an accomplished scholar, administrator, author and prominent national figure in his field, who founded the School of Health Related Professions, which preceded the School of Public Health and Health Professions at UB. Perry served as dean from 1966 until 1977.