Highlights of AFTD's 2024 Education Conference

Sen. Michelle Hinchey was elected to the New York State Senate in 2020, making history as the youngest woman to represent an upstate district, and has become a leading voice for rural and Hudson Valley communities. The senator proudly represents the 41st Senate District, which includes Columbia and Greene counties, Northern Dutchess, and portions of Ulster County.

In just three years, Sen. Hinchey has had a record of 74 bills signed into law focused on expanding rural healthcare and housing, enhancing local food access, protecting farmland, addressing the climate crisis, and advancing environmental stewardship.

Motivated by personal experience following her father’s diagnosis of frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), Sen. Hinchey has emerged as the foremost advocate on FTD in the New York State Legislature. In her inaugural year in office, she introduced a Senate Resolution formally designating FTD Awareness Week in the State of New York, making New York the first state in the country to do so. This legislative initiative has evolved into an annual Senate observance and has begun to inspire other states to designate their own FTD Awareness Weeks around the country. Sen. Hinchey has also introduced legislation to create the first statewide FTD diagnosis registry that will help educate doctors on this often misdiagnosed disease, provide insight into the number of FTD diagnoses across the state, and create a public database of services and available resources for those, and their loved ones, facing an FTD diagnosis.

Through her efforts, Sen. Hinchey has significantly elevated awareness of the debilitating disease on both a state and national level and continues to spearhead legislative action on FTD with the goal of one day eradicating the disease.

Sen. Hinchey proudly carries forward the legacy of her father, the late and highly regarded Hudson Valley Congressman Maurice Hinchey, who instilled in her that there’s no greater calling than public service and standing up to fight for what’s right.